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Bad Witch
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Bad Witch
Current price: $12.59
Barnes and Noble
Bad Witch
Current price: $12.59
Size: CD
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On
,
and
conclude the conceptual narrative arc started on 2016's
and continued on 2017's
. Drifting outside the comfort zone of what a
album is expected to sound like,
is the least accessible of the trilogy, a pessimistic, misanthropic, and frustrating cacophony that challenges even the most devoted
fan. And yet, after multiple listens,
reveals itself as the most cohesive and enveloping experience of this period. As
noted in interviews,
focused on self-reflection and self-destruction, while
searched for answers from a broken world.
concludes that we're the problem and humanity is doomed. That nihilistic blood courses through these six songs, which can be divided into pairs: a triptych within the trilogy.
launches an immediate assault with "Shit Mirror," a corrosive reflection of the worst of us all. Shards of
cut through the distortion and handclaps and saxophones herald a "new world, new times" as
accepts that "mutation feels alright." Bleeding directly into "Ahead of Ourselves," the torrent continues, with
's ring-modulated vocals buried beneath a heavily programmed drum'n'bass beat and jagged riffs. Maniacally hopeless, humanity is condemned as a pack of "knuckle dragging animal(s)" who celebrate ignorance.
hasn't been this outwardly pissed off in years and it's a thrill.
The heart of
owes much to
and his final album,
. Instrumental jazz break "Play the Goddamned Part" -- which recalls
's "Driver Down" expanded with more sax squeals and piano tinkering -- serves as a five-minute introduction to the
noir of lead single "God Break Down the Door," an oddity in the
catalog that debuts
's hitherto unheard,
croon.
closes with a pair of experimental squalls that devour nearly half of the album's run time. "I'm Not from This World" builds with ominous dread, an unnerving mutation of
's work on the
soundtrack. "Over and Out" ends
and the trilogy itself with more sax, full-throated singing,
beats, and ghostly
-era xylophone. Both warning and resignation,
cautions "time is running out" as the song evaporates into the ether, ending this 18-month journey on an uncomfortable note. As the band looks back upon three decades of pain and rage,
leave the sonic bread crumbs and callback allusions to the first two installments, advancing with fresh and surprising new possibilities for the coming era of
. ~ Neil Z. Yeung