I wouldn’t mind them on the condition they’ll have to try not to make copycat tracks of them (and that monster named KOBK). That definition is quite sad, though: a year later it’s quite clear that a good number of songs on this album are intended as a lightweight celebration of their career with no pretentiousness, but still they’ve managed to pull out some seriously good (although a little short) tunes. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but this feels to me as a transition towards something greater… or even more “braindead”, which I hope not, hahahaha!

…And that’s exactly the issue I have with their review: they bring up understandable criticism here and there without totally trashing the album, nearly giving you the feeling it could be at least a 5, but they give it nonetheless an incredibly abysmal score. It’s almost like they know how influential they still are and use that power to purposely blow down any artist the don’t appreciate when they are receiving mostly positive feedback from other critics. As soon as that lone review is aggregated to the Metacritic system, WOTP score will plunge to fricking 69 from 77, unless there are other positive reviews. It irks me to no end.

Y’know what? Since I’m having trouble to sleep tonight (it’s still quite hot here where I live and there’s also a couple of personal issues looping in my thoughts, but nothing really serious), I’ll engage. For example, I noticed that WOTP songs seem to be put in pairs in order to represent the opposites, or the lights and shadows, of a given theme. WOTP / Compliance —> The angry populist mob is trying to overthrow the government they hate / The said government and other social structures like gangs and religious cults try to get a hold of the mob by instilling a false sense of belonging and security against a difficult world Liberation / WSD —> The bravery and determination to let your voice be heard and go against your oppressors with a commonly shared sense of mocking sarcasm / The same bravery and determination but displayed from the single individual’s POV in an irate, ferocious light, to the point of aiming to the destructive annihilation of their oppressor Ghosts / Halloween —> A sincere, heart-wrenching longing for an authentically pure love lost to the pandemic / A grotesque exposition of an abusive relationship behind closed doors during lockdowns KOBK / Verona —> The worst survivalist instincts emerging from humans during hard times to the point of eliminating “love and compassion” / A love story born from pure passion and protection despite the world falling apart around it, as a demonstration that people can get through that without losing their humanity Euphoria / WAFF —> A wishful, hopeful, energic (but maybe also a little desperate?) call for a positive shock in order to soothe the pain for the current situation / A nihilist statement on human condition in relation to the global disasters happening around us… but with a good healthy dose of rebellious rage in order to carry on and ride through the storm, whatever happens.

Oooof, I didn’t expect WOTP to receive such fricking stellar reviews! I could’ve foreseen a better reception than ST, but not at this level. It’s so… strange, you know? Especially since critics have always been pretty much divided on their later production. But of course, I’m happy for our guys!

The final part with the multiple guitar layers, especially after that deafening falsetto, is particularly elating. The song it’s basically a GUAF that’s not sappy and it’s executed well, in pure Black Holes style with a sprinkle of The Killers.

Geeeeze, did someone spit in your breakfast/lunch/dinner today?

You spelled it wrong: it’s “come in my CAAAAAAAAAAAAVEEEEEE”

No offense, but this made me LOL a good deal. You can accuse them of getting old (and a bit hypocritical) with the “fuck da powah, let’s start revolution” schtick in Matt’s lyrics, but musically speaking I can’t hear how they’ve done the exact same thing in the new songs, apart from Liberation which comes a little dangerously close to that. Not even commenting on the “godawful melodies” and Matt “wanting to prove he’s the best singer in the world” (uh?? What the heck??) because I think they’re quite weak as reasons to hate this new material.

If anything (imho), it manages to turn the said “cringe” on its own head and craft it into something listenable and incredibly fun, if not a bit more clever. It’s also serious just when really needed (Ghosts, Verona) without trying hard to be like that. About creativity, yeah, you can feel some influences but it feels honestly even more Muse-y than ST.

I’m afraid I’ll have to skip Ghosts for a while… I didn’t even lost someone close to me as of recently and still it managed to fucking break me.

You loved Propaganda if I recall correctly, didn’t you? Well… let’s say Halloween it’s a sort of bonkers cross between that song and Megalomania. 😉 (Yep, I listened to the 20-sec snippets floating around) EDIT: Unfortunately (or maybe not?) we still don’t have any WAFF snippet.

It’s astonishing how we still haven’t heard a single leaked snippet yet, in spite of this early sale. I really hope some good-hearted fellow/chick who bought it decides to make the good deed…

That… wasn’t my point in fact. 😕 I just wanted to point out how pleasantly similar they sound. It’s almost like an unintended homage to Echo & The Bunnymen.

I found that KOBK chorus is quite similar to the one of The Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen: both starts with the word “fate” and their chord progression is nearly identical (with The Killing Moon being slightly longer). Try and listen yourself:

Compliance leaves me… very perplexed. That’a all I can muster for now. I mean, the bass line is killer, Dom’s drum work is egregious, you can feel there’s a teeny weeny Muse-y feel buried in there, but… I don’t know, to me it feels too restrained and dry. Too quiet. I wonder why they didn’t beefed more up the choruses with some guitar à la Easily. I feel (and I hope) it’s going to turn out as the weakest track in the new album.

Considering that both Von Korff (producer) and Chris Gehringer (mastering operator) have pretty much confirmed through bits that an entire album has been recorded, it won’t be as long as the last time

In fact, there’s an extremely high chance of probability (nearly 100%, I’d say) that I’m reading too much into it. Mind that what you read are the ramblings of a drowsy, totally spaced out man! 😂

You know, before bed time (it’s 1 AM here) I was thinking about what we can see in the video previews we already have. It may sound trivial and taken for granted at this point, but if we have to go by the elements in them, my take on the song is that this time it might even more personal to Matt than we could think of. Yes, as usual it looks like it reprises words and concepts we are totally used to from him, but coupled with the unsettling (if not downright creepy) imagery that was revealed to us, like the Matt mask, I predict it’s going to represent an attempt at genuine self-reflection by our dear frontman and the moment in life he’s currently at. Just to be clearer… What if the cult portrayed in the video and the car with fancy chandelier are an allegory of the rich and exclusive (key word) Californian jet-set he was made part of thanks to fame? And could the Matt mask be a representation of a sort of fake-self he was turned into just to appease the standards of that group, but that now he wants to definitely break? Meh. Don’t know. Maybe I’m too bored and too tired to make a sense out of what I’m writing… 🥴

Don’t give me hope, please… This is gonna be a looong wait, especially after nearly two years of drought (I won’t consider Matt’s “Cryosleep” or ST film OST).

Such poetry, such fine subtlety… /s Oh, god… This is going to be Drones all over again, isn’t it? 😓 EDIT: The music and production sound rad, though!

That escalated quickly, lol.

It actually encapsulates more letters if you look carefully. You can also make out an R and an A, for example. Also, my personal theory is that it doesn’t refer to the album title, but to the name of the “cult” (or whatever it is) portrayed on the same cover.

How long before someone cracks the codes and leakes the song, in your opinion?

“Looking forward to WSD 🎶” instead of “Looking forward to 2022”. God, why do they have to tease us like that? 😭

Soooo… Have you noticed that they changed the caption in their last IG post about the New Year?