"When I get there, I'll get there,"
Julian Casablancas
sings at one point on
Like All Before You
. It's a statement that could apply to the six-year wait for
the Voidz
' third full-length, following 2018's
Virtue
, but it also captures the album's surprisingly noncommittal feel.
challenges listeners in ways they may not expect -- or want -- from a
Voidz
album, trading frenetic invention for a strangely elusive listening experience that starts with its muffled sound. The frustratingly quiet production squanders "All the Same"'s potential as a catchy look inward and manages to flatten the electro drums, acoustic guitar, and cartoonishly sinister singing that would've made "When Will the Time of These Bastards End" a showstopper on
Tyranny
or
. Too often, much of the album's remaining momentum and meaning are snuffed out by
Casablancas
' buried vocals. A quarter century after
Is This It
, he's still one of rock's most commanding voices; though he may have tired of putting that voice front and center, the scratch-quality vocals on
leave its songs adrift. And while he's tweaked his singing to great effect on work with
the Strokes
,
Daft Punk
, and
Charli xcx
, here his processed warble dulls the impact of songs like the self-aware post-punk-pop of "Square Wave." While a significant chunk of
fails to showcase either
' hooky brilliance or
' elaborate interplay, there are a few highlights. The album's restraint works in the favor of "Spectral Analysis"'s flirtation with ambient pop, and the band's dedication to a mournful mood wins out on "Perseverance 1C2S." They offer a poppier take on their genre-mashing with "Flexorcist," fusing a brittle synth hook reminiscent of
New Order
's "Bizarre Love Triangle" with funk and disco-indebted rhythms and a volcanic guitar solo. Here and on "Prophecy of the Dragon"'s alternately strutting and brooding electro-metal,
bring volatile fun back to their music. Putting aside the fact that almost half of these songs appeared over a year before the album's release, the anticlimactic feel of
is striking.
The Voidz
always felt completely invested in their music on
and
, while 2019 single "Did My Best" offered a more laid-back style that still gave listeners something to grab onto. Considering that this band began as a vehicle for
and company to express their boldest musical ideas and political statements, it's hard to hear
as anything but a disappointing act of self-sabotage. ~ Heather Phares