Greyson Chance - Hellboy - Single [Review]

At some point this year (2021), fans of American pop singer and songwriter Greyson Chance can expect a follow-up to his 2019 album portraits, although we don't yet know precisely when. (He did hint at the possibility of that being revealed soon, however, so we might be getting an update soon.) "Hellboy" is very likely yet another single from the album, and over the last year to year-and-a-half, Chance has released a fairly long string of songs and singles, and it's unclear which ones that we can expect to be featured on the new album or if, as was the case with many of the singles released prior to portraits, they will remain homeless as standalone singles. We have so far gotten "Boots," "Dancing Next to Me," "Honeysuckle," "Athlete" (released to promote the television series Love, Victor), "Bad to Myself," "Holy Feeling," and now "Hellboy." Of all of them thus far, I think that "Honeysuckle" remains my favorite, but "Hellboy" definitely delivers. For one thing, the suggestive lyrics are, to put it simply, hot as hell: "If you don't know how to touch it, let me educate ya," he teases, closing the first verse, and he later, in the second verse, confidently asserts, "I can show you things that'll make you think you're dead in heaven. Have me for dessert. I'll have you on your knees. You'll be begging for me, hot and heavy in the morning." The song definitely offers up some of Chance's most risqué lyrics to date, although his portraits track "black on black" makes for a pretty close contender ("...damn, boy, you got me fucking on my knees"). The song is a poppy tune with a little bit of funky Maroon 5-esque flavor, and my favorite part is when Greyson is... rapping, I guess? He, half singing and half speaking, pretty rapidly sings in the post-chorus, "Hands tied, bite your lip. Green light, flip and twist. Dark magic, red boot kick. I'm a hell boy, I'm a hell boy. Your eyes on my hips. Damn right, you want this all night, yeah. I might give you hell, boy. I'm a hell boy." I really don't think that I need to spend any time discussing what this song is about because I think that it's rather obvious. I find that post-chorus to be the catchiest part of the song, and I also love the bridge in which Greyson, in somewhat muffled vocals, sings in French: "Le paradis n'est pas réel sauf si tu es avec moi" (which translates to "Heaven is not real unless you are with me"). (I love it because French is such a beautiful and sexy language.) It's definitely a fun song although, as I said, not my favorite of the singles so far, and I am looking forward to hopefully getting an album announcement soon!

MARINA - Purge the Poison - Single [Review]

Following the release of the lead single "Man's World" (reviewed here) released late last year, "Purge the Poison" is Welsh indie pop musician MARINA (full name Marina Lambrini Diamandis)'s second single from her upcoming fifth studio album Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, set to be released on June 11, 2021. After having heard "Man's World," I was reminded a great deal of MARINA's third studio album FROOT, released in 2015, especially since the very beginning of it sounds almost identical to the very beginning of "I'm a Ruin." I was excited by the prospect of maybe - at least sonically - getting FROOT 2.0 with this album, and "Purge the Poison" continues that trend in my opinion. While there are definitely echoes of her debut album The Family Jewels (as I have seen a lot of fans say), I am especially reminded of the indie rock sound heard on FROOT tracks such as "Can't Pin Me Down" and "Better than That." The song, as I said, definitely has an indie rock vibe to it, and it also has somewhat of a retro '80s sound to its production. (Even some of the camerawork of the music video has a retro vibe to it.) The verses remind me a bit of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" in how they fairly rapidly spit out critique of our current society: "Quarantined all alone, Mother Nature's on the phone. 'What have you been doing? Don't forget, I am your home. Virus come, fires burn, until human beings learn from every disaster, you are not my master.'" That is from the first verse of the song and chronicles epidemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the wildfires of California and Australia. I remember seeing MARINA tease the following lyrics prior to the song's release: "Need to purge the poison, show us our humanity - all the good and bad, racism and misogyny. Nothing's hidden anymore; capitalism's made us poor. God, forgive America for every single war." I remember reading that part and thinking, Damn, she is really going to SERVE on this album, isn't she?

I also love how she name drops Britney Spears in the second verse: "2007, when size zero was the rage. Britney shaved her head, and all we did was call her crazed." This is another one of my favorite lines of the song because it really packs a punch! There is so much truth behind it because I remember that era of Britney's life quite well and remember everyone talking about it. Very few people responded with empathy or with trying to evaluate the reasons behind her breakdown. They just shrugged her off as crazy. Like "Man's World," "Purge the Poison" is definitely calling attention to sexism and misogyny, and this is one such line in which it is doing exactly that. The chorus of the song is also so catchy. I love how the notes of the melody are delivered quickly and how they oscillate. "Need to purge the poison from our system until human beings listen," she asserts in the chorus. "Tell me, who'd you think you are? It's your own decision, but your home is now your prison. You forgot that without me, you won't go far." (I especially love when the chorus is repeated but at a much slower pace and softer tone.) According to Diamandis herself, this part is meant to be from the perspective of the Earth, reminding us that if we continue to treat her unkindly and take destructive actions against her, we will eventually die out because she is our home. Without her, we can't survive. There is also a possibility that MARINA is comparing this to motherhood in general. Misogyny is, of course, the institutionalized and systemic demeaning of, oppression of, and hatred towards women, but without women, we wouldn't be here. We literally emerge from women's bodies, and our lives begin within them. Although I do overall prefer "Man's World" to "Purge the Poison," I love this fun, catchy, indie rock tune as well and can't wait to see what else Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land has to offer. I also love the pop culture references in the aforementioned music video - references that include classic films such as The Wizard of Oz and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Evanescence - The Bitter Truth [Review]

Approximately a year or so following the revelation of its title and cover art, American alternative metal band Evanescence (as anyone who knows me knows, my favorite band of all time) finally returns in full swing with its first album of wholly original material, The Bitter Truth, in a decade. The band's sixth album (yeah, sorry, but I can't not count the beautiful and groundbreaking masterpiece that is Origin), it features some of the band's rawest production and lyrically doesn't hold back any punches, telling things like they are as the title of the album would suggest that it does. The albums kicks off rather quietly with a soft, ambient introduction. (Past albums have begun with numbers like "Going Under," "Sweet Sacrifice," and "What You Want," all louder and more energetic songs, with exceptions being Origin and Synthesis.) "Artifact / The Turn," as the title would suggest, is technically two songs in one. Each part is pretty short, leading me to believe that they might have been poems written by frontwoman Amy Lee that were adapted to music. In "Artifact," Lee, over soft trills that sound a bit like they're being played on a xylophone or something similar, sings, "Underneath golden skies, you will always be there. In the mirror, in my eyes, you will always be there." It's definitely befitting of the title of the song because an artifact is, of course, an item created that is of historical significance, and Lee is capturing someone's presence here in these lyrics (a theme that she, in a sense, returns to later in the album). In a recent interview, Amy revealed that "Artifact" was actually recorded on her laptop in a hotel room which is very impressive (not that I am at all surprised). The melody of "Artifact" also reminds me so much of something else, but, try as I might, I can't put my finger on what. The song then takes a turn (see what I did there?), featuring ambient sounds and electronic warbles. Lee, here, sings, "Where do we go now that I have seen the turn? Where do we go now? Find a way to go back, to go back home, to who we are." The final statement there makes this track not only a perfect intro to the album as a whole but also to the first full length song on the album, "Broken Pieces Shine."

"Broken Pieces Shine" is definitely a highlight on The Bitter Truth for me, and I have seen many other Evanescence fans say the same. "Artifact / The Turn" moves gaplessly into it, and, in fact, at the very beginning of "Broken Pieces Shine," you can still hear the echo of Amy's voice singing the final word of the previous track. The song definitely has the energy that you would expect an opener to have - not only an opener to an album but also to a show, and I fully expect "Artifact / The Turn" and "Broken Pieces Shine" to, together, open shows when the band is able to go on tour for the album, especially since Amy has stated that the song is sort of like our (as in Evanescence fans) anthem, and it definitely has an anthemic quality to its big arena sound. Amy Lee has long been a proponent for fighting off the harmful voices in our heads that weigh us down and hold us back by trying to convince us that we're worthless and not good enough, having, for example, said the following during the live Synthesis show that was released to home video: "You ever have that thing like every day at some point during the day where you're totally criticizing yourself and you feel like you can't do what you're doing or you don't belong where you are or you just can't pull it off? Yeah, that voice is a waste of time. That voice in your head is a liar. I just want to say that we have to keep fighting it. That's not a flaw. Those things that you keep telling yourself are a flaw, those things I keep telling myself are flaws, I think I'm starting to realize and I keep having to hammer it in my brain but I know that it's true, they're not flaws. Those are the things about us that make us who we are, so just embrace who you are. You are good enough. You do belong here. We can't waste our lives being afraid to live them." This definitely ties into "The Turn" referring to finding "who we are" and also the theme of "Broken Pieces Shine," which is lyrically about the capability that our imperfections have of being beautiful (a theme similarly explored on the 2017 Synthesis track "Imperfection").

"Broken Pieces Shine" is a welcome return to the band's hard rock / alternative metal sound after the orchestral and electronic soundscape of 2017's Synthesis, which primarily reimagined previous Evanescence tracks as new stripped down, quieter recordings (while also including two new songs and three new instrumental pieces). This album is really our first time hearing Evanescence in their rock and metal element in a very long time, at least via original music. (While they did release a rock song back in 2019, it was a cover of a classic Fleetwood Mac song, not an original Evanescence song.) "Broken Pieces Shine" begins with electronic warbling and a monotonous and muffled male voice counting down: "3, 2, 1, 0." We then get slamming electric guitar and drums, and the best part of the song is definitely the melodically and thematically powerful chorus in which Lee, in a soaring and infectious melody that instantly hooked me upon first listen, asserts, "I'm not fine. I don't know if I will be all right, but I have to try. I know you're with me, so what if we do fall apart, give into all that we are and let all the broken pieces shine?" The deluxe box set edition of The Bitter Truth includes a bonus disc featuring the virtual concert that they did several months ago as well as a cassette tape, side A of which features short outtakes from the recording sessions and side B of which features seven instrumentals. One of the outtakes on side A is titled "BPS #7.1," and its lyrics would suggest that the song originally had a very different meaning, as Amy sings the chorus in that version much differently: "Can you still hear me or is this in my mind? I need you near me. I can't get you out of my head, still singing songs for the dead, baby, 'cause broken gems still shine." (The Evanescence Reference claims that she is saying "broken champs still shine," but I hear "broken gems still shine" which makes a lot more sense.) As I will discuss again later in this review, Amy Lee tragically lost her younger brother Robby three years ago to epilepsy complications, and, as past Evanescence songs such as "Hello" and "Like You" chronicle, she also lost a sister when she was very young, and it seems to me like "Broken Pieces Shine" might have originally been about one or both of them ("still singing songs for the dead").

The Bitter Truth then gives us two songs that we had already heard since they had already been released as singles - "The Game Is Over" (reviewed here) and "Yeah Right" (reviewed here). I won't discuss either of these songs at length here since I have already reviewed them, but I do want to say that "Yeah Right" has really grown on me, and I like it even more than I did when it first came out. I frequently find it stuck in my head and find it to be such an empowering song, and I wish that it had gotten a music video treatment (seeing as how it is the only single that didn't). Like "Broken Pieces Shine," "Feeding the Dark" is another song that I instantly loved upon first listen, in large part because of the nostalgia that it made me feel. Why did it make me feel nostalgic, you ask? Well, it sounds (at least to me) exactly like it could easily fit on Fallen, the band's first major label commercial album - the album that started it all for most Evanescence fans who have been here since the beginning. The song is sonically identical to the overall sound heard on that album, and Lee even vocally delivers it in a similar way. The song's eerie instrumental and Lee's lower register vocals remind me especially of the Fallen track "Haunted." "Feeding the Dark" employs some industrial and nu metal tactics in keeping not only with Fallen but with classic Linkin Park (namely Hybrid Theory and Meteora). Also featured is a relentlessly heavy guitar groove that persists throughout the majority of the song. I believe that it was the album's producer Nick Raskulinecz who said in the recently released documentary Embracing the Bitter Truth that the song is the heaviest song that Evanescence has ever done, and while I do definitely think that it's up there, I wouldn't agree that it's the heaviest song that they have ever done, as I think that tracks such as "Lies," "Whisper," and the original version of "Never Go Back" are heavier in my opinion. I personally interpret its lyrics as being from the perspective of depression, trauma, or mental illness in general - whatever voices in your head are trying to bring you down: "Well, you know that you can't hide," Lee taunts in the powerful chorus, "and you know that you can't lie 'cause I know all your secrets, and I won't let you forget."

Following "Feeding the Dark" are three previously released singles in a row - the lead single "Wasted on You" (reviewed here), "Better Without You" (reviewed here), and "Use My Voice" (reviewed here) - and I do want to point out that I recently found out (from Embracing the Bitter Truth) that "Use My Voice" was originally intended to be the lead single, and I found that interesting because while I knew that "Wasted on You" was not originally intended to be the first single, I didn't know which song was. I am honestly glad that it didn't end up being "Use My Voice" because while I by no means whatsoever hate it, it's probably the lowest point on the album in my opinion. We then get "Take Cover," and this is technically another one that I had already heard, although obviously not this studio version. With slightly different lyrics in a few spots, the band first debuted the song live in 2016, and it, along with "Yeah Right" and "Feeding the Dark," is an outtake (albeit likely completely re-recorded for The Bitter Truth) from the 2011 self-titled album. I have always loved "Take Cover," one of the angriest, most aggressive, and emotionally rawest songs that Evanescence has ever done, and I remember, after hearing songs like "The Game Is Over" and "Use My Voice" which I felt were somewhat similar in tone and energy, speculating that we were perhaps finally going to get a studio version of the song on The Bitter Truth, and I have to give myself credit for speculating correctly. It definitely fits some of the themes on the album and belongs alongside other songs such as "The Game Is Over," "Yeah Right," "Better Without You," and "Use My Voice." Heavy and aggressive with slamming guitar and drums and Lee employing a more aggressive attitude in her tone than she normally does, the song pulls no punches, warning the target to "take cover 'cause... I'm coming to take your world down." We also hear some of, in my opinion, Amy's most impressive vocal work to date when, near the end of the song, she sings, "...so come on in inside." On the word "inside," she, staying at a relatively high pitch, undulates the word for a relatively sustained period of time, and it blows me away every time.

As mentioned earlier, Amy Lee experienced a devastating loss three years ago - the death of her younger brother Robby Lee. Shortly after that happened, she performed a cover of The Beatles' "Across the Universe" at certain shows during the second leg of the Synthesis Tour to honor him, as he was a huge Beatles fan. (He even provided guest vocals for Amy's cover of "Hello Goodbye" on her Dream Too Much album.) I knew then that there was no question that Robby would have at least one spot on the next Evanescence album, and "Far from Heaven" - the only piano ballad on the album - is his spot. (He technically has two spots and potentially has even more, but I will touch upon that later.) "Far from Heaven" is a beautiful piano ballad somewhat reminiscent of previous ballads such as "My Immortal" and "Lost in Paradise," and it did take a little bit of time to grow on me, as it took me some time to find the melody, if that makes sense. Once I did, I immediately realized how beautiful that it is, not to mention heartbreaking. Lee's brother is one of the primary subjects of this song, but it also has a broader theme - depression and grief in general and Amy questioning her faith. With questioning her faith comes questioning what follows death and whether or not we get to be reunited with loved ones who have passed: "What if I can't see your light anymore," Lee questions in the song's celestial chorus, "'cause I've spent too long in the dark? And I'm on my knees without shame begging to believe, but I feel so far from heaven." You can hear the authentic pain and heartbreak in Amy's vocals, especially in two specific parts: (1) in the second verse: "Wake up to a new day, break my heart again. Dreaming makes for sweet escape, but I can't forget." and (2) in the bridge when she calls out, "Is anyone out there? Did you give up on us?" I am not someone of Christian faith myself, but the beauty of this song is that I don't think that you have to be in order to relate to it and appreciate it. Many of us want to believe in a higher power that protects us and comforts us when we're suffering, and I myself was struggling with wanting to believe in that when I went through my own hardship earlier this year.

A common theme among Amy's lyrics throughout the years is the peace and solace that sleep and dreaming offer. "Imaginary," "Secret Door," and "Dream Too Much" are all examples of this, and The Bitter Truth offers up more of the same. As previously mentioned, "Far from Heaven" refers to waking up to a new day and painfully realizing that you have to be reintroduced to your pain and your grief. In the following song on the album, "Part of Me," there is a lyric that potentially refers to the same theme: "Feed my imaginings; don't let a sweet dream die." I honestly, in a few ways, love that "Part of Me" directly follows "Far from Heaven" because it is kind of like a sequel to it. Genius even points out that the song is about recovering from grief and rediscovering the beauty of life. "Part of Me" is quite possibly my favorite song from The Bitter Truth, as difficult as it is to choose a favorite because of how many gems that the album has to offer. It is such an incredibly powerful track both lyrically and melodically, and it's very emotionally empowering. "I will be more than my survival," Lee asserts powerfully in the song's chorus, "own these scars on my heart. Even in dreams, I hear you calling. Breaking the surface, I won't let go. You're part of me." One of the many reasons why I love this song is how many different ways that there are to interpret its meaning, none of which are, I think, mutually exclusive. Amy revealed, for example, that the song is, in part, about us - the fans - that it is we who will always be a part of her. I also firmly believe, however, that, as mentioned prior, it ties into "Far from Heaven." The theme of survival is one that is present on multiple tracks on the album. In "Broken Pieces Shine," for example, she claims that "survival hurts," and here, she asserts that she "will be more than my survival." Is it possible that part of the process of Amy's grief following the loss of her brother was experiencing survivor's guilt? It is a common response to losing a loved one - wondering why death didn't take you instead and wondering what right you have to go on living and experience happiness when your loved one doesn't get that opportunity.

If that is indeed the case, then it puts the meaning behind "Part of Me" in a new context. As previously stated, the song is said to be about Amy recovering from grief, so I don't think that it is a stretch by any means to suggest that her line about survival is referring to survivor's guilt. Lee stating that she "will be more than my survival" is, in a sense, saying that, "Yes, I am alive, but I am done feeling guilty about it. I am going to live my best life." It is such an incredibly powerful statement. The song also potentially ties into "Artifact / The Turn," especially "Artifact." In "Artifact," she quietly sings in the final line, "You will always be there," and here, she sings that "you're part of me now and always." In both cases, she is essentially capturing someone's presence in a song. Another reason why I love "Part of Me" is because of past Evanescence albums of which it reminds me. It sounds a lot like the 2011 self-titled album (reminding me of songs like "Oceans" and "Never Go Back"), but Amy's haunting chanting at the end reminds me of Origin. I, in addition, love how relentlessly heavy that the song is, featuring, for example, a heavy guitar breakdown approximately two-thirds of the way through the song that reminds me a great deal of HIM's 2007 album Venus Doom. The final song (officially - I will get to that shortly) on The Bitter Truth is "Blind Belief," and although Evanescence has definitely ended albums before on high energy (Fallen's "Whisper" and "Imperfection" on Synthesis serving as examples), they frequently end with ballads (such as The Open Door closing with "Good Enough" and the self-titled album ending with either "Swimming Home" or "Secret Door" depending on if you listen to the standard edition or the deluxe edition). When I first listened to the album, I was somewhat disappointed with how the album ends because I felt like it ended kind of abruptly without closure, and it felt like a song was supposed to follow but was missing. I eventually warmed up to it as the album closer, however, especially because of the words on which the album ends - love over all. What a powerful way to end an album!

The album leaked prior to its official release on March 26th, and although I did not listen to any leaks (wanting to wait for the catharsis of the official release date), I remember a fan on Twitter having listened to it and saying that "Blind Belief" reminded them of Flyleaf's 2005 self-titled album, and I can definitely hear where they were coming from. The song is heavy and also brings in some classic Evanescence by opening with trilling piano (playing a melody that guitar soon joins in playing) and incorporating an orchestra into the mix. The song is very optimistic and hopeful and, like "Use My Voice," is likely thematically sociopolitical, hoping for a brighter future in which we see change for the better. "Are you afraid to see that our fathers were wrong?" we are asked in the chorus. The use of the word fathers strongly suggests to me that Evanescence is addressing injustice stemming from institutionalized systems of power such as patriarchy. The song can also possibly be tied back to "Use My Voice" in that both songs likely refer to firearms in a critical way. In "Use My Voice," Amy sings sarcastically, "Gather your friends and wave your gun in my face, but I will use my voice," and in "Blind Belief," she encourages, "Arms of self-sacrifice, lay them down." It's a little less direct in "Blind Belief" as it's more open to interpretation, but I am reminded of In This Moment's song "Lay Your Gun Down," which frontwoman Maria Brink has, at live shows, sang in response to gun violence, and I think that Evanescence is similarly addressing gun violence here, insisting that it needs to stop. "Blind Belief" also, in a way, brings the album full circle in the way that a line potentially parallels a line from "Broken Pieces Shine," where Lee questions, "How can we ever be us, wondering who we can trust?" Here in "Blind Belief," she declares in the first verse that "love begins with us, but we can't be trusted." I don't believe this to be a coincidence. "Broken Pieces Shine" isn't just questioning whether or not we can trust others; it's also questioning whether or not we can trust ourselves.

As previously stated, however, "Blind Belief" is ultimately hopeful and optimistic. Lee may initially argue that "love begins with us, but we can't be trusted," but as I said before, the final line of the song (and of the album) is love over all, indicating that if we put love before everything else - injustice, oppression, violence, hate, etc. - then maybe we can be trusted. This especially rings true given the line in the chorus about how "we hold the key to redemption," and I also love that there is, as is the case with several of the album's tracks, more than one way to read the lyrics. There is the sociopolitical way that I just suggested, but I think that "Far from Heaven," "Part of Me," and "Blind Belief" can also be read almost as a trilogy about grief - with "Blind Belief" encompassing acceptance and moving forward with hope and renewed resilience. As I said, I came to love and appreciate it as the closing track even if I didn't at first. It, officially speaking, closes the album, but there are different editions of the album that feature differing bonus content. The Target edition CD and the Japanese edition CD, as examples, both feature the cover of Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" that Amy Lee and Troy McLawhorn performed last year as well as the band's cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" released as a standalone single in 2019 to promote the video game Gears 5. (I especially love the acoustic take on "Cruel Summer.") As I talked about earlier in this review when I discussed "Broken Pieces Shine," there was also a deluxe box set released that featured the album (without, unfortunately, "Cruel Summer" or "The Chain" which meant that diehards like myself who wanted to own all of the tracks had to buy more than one copy of the album), a bonus disc, as I explained, featuring the virtual concert that they streamed from Rock Falcon Studios on December 5th (which includes a cover of Portishead's "Glory Box," making it the second time that Amy has covered a Portishead song) last year as well as a hauntingly gorgeous studio version of "Across the Universe" as a bonus track. (I mentioned earlier that Robby technically has two spots on the album, and this is the other one.)

I also previously mentioned the cassette tape included in the deluxe box set and how side A features snippets of outtakes from the album's recording sessions and side B features seven instrumentals - "The Game Is Over," "Yeah Right," "Use My Voice," "Better Without You," "Wasted on You," "Far from Heaven," and "Blind Belief." (I do wish that "Broken Pieces Shine," "Feeding the Dark," and "Part of Me" instrumentals had been included since they are three of my favorites, but I digress.) Of the outtakes on side A, some of the highlights for me are the intro titled "Wolves," "Avocado Cream" (it's typical of Amy to give songs silly food-related working titles, as "The Only One" was titled "Tuna Afternoon," "Never Go Back" was titled "Orange," and "Part of Me" was titled "Pickle Mustard"), the aforementioned "BPS #7.1," "Teleportation," and "Farther." The Bitter Truth, as I have come to expect from Evanescence over the last two decades, is phenomenal and does not disappoint, although I do have some minor complaints to voice, none of which are serious enough to really make me appreciate this album (which, as is also always the case with Evanescence albums, dropped at a perfect time in my life) any less. Firstly (and I am not the only fan who has voiced this complaint), some of the songs are mixed/produced in such a way that Amy's vocals are drowned out and too quiet, and I believe that I mentioned that in some of my reviews of the singles. This is especially apparent in the verses of "Blind Belief," but it's also a problem in "The Game Is Over" and "Feeding the Dark." With that being said, you can tell that the band was going for a very raw, almost live sound with this album and wanted it to be heavy, so the focus being more centered on the instruments is very likely intentional. Secondly, there are aspects of the tracklisting that I personally would have done a little bit differently. I don't really like the transition between "Feeding the Dark" and "Wasted on You" and think that "Wasted on You" should have been either closer to the beginning of the album or closer to the end. It, to me, doesn't sound right in the middle.

What even is the bitter truth? Well, despite the title of the album and despite Amy's claim in "The Game Is Over" that "there's only one," I think that the title is in reference to more than one truth - the truth that we all die, the truth that life isn't always a fairy-tale, and Amy's own personal truth that she isn't going to let be silenced. One of the overarching themes of The Bitter Truth, for example, is fighting off patriarchal oppression both in the music industry and in the world in general, as can be clearly heard in "Yeah Right," "Better Without You," "Use My Voice," and "Take Cover," and I kind of wish that all of these songs were right next to each other consecutively so that it felt almost like a story arc on the album as you listen from start to finish. Three of them - "Better Without You," "Use My Voice," and "Take Cover" are, but I also feel that "Yeah Right" is part of that saga and that it's interrupted by "Feeding the Dark" and "Wasted on You." I put some thought into how I might structure the tracklisting:

1. Artifact / The Turn
2. Broken Pieces Shine
3. Feeding the Dark
4. The Game Is Over
5. Take Cover
6. Use My Voice
7. Yeah Right
8. Better Without You
9. Wasted on You
10. Far from Heaven
11. Part of Me
12. Blind Belief
    

That, I think, pretty much solves most of the issues that I personally have with the tracklisting, but I once again digress. At the end of the day, the fact remains that my favorite band of all time is back with a vengeance. As I have also seen some other fans comment, I do miss the epic theatrical quality of songs like "Whisper," "Lacrymosa," and "Your Star," but this album definitely offers theatricality in its own way (such as the lulling bells of "Wasted on You" and the music box opening to "Better Without You"). Here is to hoping that it isn't another ten years before we get another original album!

Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails over the Country Club [Review]

It's getting really hard to determine how many albums that American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey has now released. Wikipedia counts 2021's Chemtrails over the Country Club as her seventh studio album, but one could also argue that it's her ninth studio album if they were to count Lana Del Ray, Paradise, and Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass (the third of which is a spoken word album that also functioned as the audiobook to her poetry collection of the same title). Lana has released so much material over the last decade or so that it can be difficult for even the most loyal and committed fans to keep track of it all, but how many albums this release makes notwithstanding, Chemtrails (originally announced as White Hot Forever) was released on March 19, 2021. Featuring eleven tracks, it is probably the singer's folkiest album to date, shedding her pop sensibilities almost completely. It is very reminiscent, to me, of the back half of her 2017 album Lust for Life, reminding me a great deal of songs like "Beautiful People Beautiful Problems" and "Heroin." It opens with one of my favorite songs from the album, "White Dress." "White Dress" starts off with gentle piano (somewhat reminiscent of Norman Fucking Rockwell!'s title track), soon bringing in Lana's vocals which are definitely unique here, as Lana employs a vocal style that I don't recall her ever really using before - a breathy, airy, and somewhat whispery style that she maintains throughout most of the song. The song also employs some interesting and unusual strategies such as certain lines of the chorus making use of too many syllables to fit its bar, and I love this song not only because of such unique methods but also because of its narrative lyrics, sort of telling us the story of a good portion of Lana's past. "When I was a waitress wearing a white dress," the chorus shares, "look how I do this. Look how I got this... Down at the Men in Music Business Conference down in Orlando; I was only nineteen." It functions as a great way to kick off the album, not only sonically but also in that it feels like the introduction to a story.

We then get the title track and second single from the album, "Chemtrails over the Country Club." I actually already reviewed this song as a single, but I do want to quickly say that since the single was released, the song has grown on me a lot, and it's now one of my favorite songs on the album. "Tulsa Jesus Freak," on the other hand, is unfortunately one of my least favorites. It is overall just sonically uninteresting and flat to me, with the melody sticking to a very limited range over a light, redundant beat. This song is, however, probably the closest that the album gets to Lana's more upbeat, poppier sound heard on albums like Born to Die and NFR!. It is, as Genius helpfully points out, very likely about her ex Sean Larkin, as he is from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is also worth mentioning that when Lana first announced this album, revealing the title to be (as previously mentioned) White Hot Forever, it was also revealed that the album would feature a title track, and since "Tulsa Jesus Freak" uses the phrase "white hot forever" multiple times, that was probably the original title of this song. "Let Me Love You Like a Woman" is the fourth track on Chemtrails and was released last year as the album's lead single, and while it is a beautiful song melodically, I still (as I mentioned in my review of the single) am not a big fan of the nature of the lyrics because of one way that I think that some people could interpret them, but I digress. Chemtrails over the Country Club then offers up "Wild at Heart," a subtle but beautiful song dominated by Lana's porcelain and somewhat echoed vocals over light accompaniment of acoustic guitar and piano. Although this song is not my favorite on Chemtrails, it's definitely a beautiful song, and I love how, in keeping with tracks on NFR! and Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, she refers to the California fires of recent years: "I left Calabasas, escaped all the ashes..." There are also, like "White Dress," parts of the song in which Lana is squeezing in more syllables into bars than she should, but it's definitely being done with purpose, and it's being done tastefully.

"Dark but Just a Game" is one of my favorite songs on Chemtrails. On several occasions in the past - such as on Honeymoon's "God Knows I Tried" and Lust for Life's "13 Beaches" - Del Rey has lyrically referred to the negative impacts that fame has had on her, and that theme is similarly explored on "Dark but Just a Game." According to Genius, the phrase is in reference to something that producer Jack Antonoff said to Lana about fame changing people for the worse. I love the beautifully catchy melody of this tune over gently strumming acoustic guitar and a very light and gentle beat. I especially love the melody of the chorus in which Del Rey declares that, even though famous people before her have succumbed to the pressure of fame and changed, she will not: "We keep changing all the time. The best ones lost their minds, so I'm not gonna change." "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" is another highlight for me. It's another subtle one, with very gentle and quiet acoustic accompaniment, and I love the melody. It's lyrically a pretty straightforward song, calling attention to the idea that nomadic people who frequently travel (as she does especially while touring) might have a different idea of what home means than other people do. Frequent travel and exploration is, for some people, normal and comforting. We then get "Yosemite" on Chemtrails, and this was the song for which I was most excited when I saw the tracklisting of the album revealed because it's an outtake from Lust for Life that Del Rey first mentioned several years ago. It interestingly didn't make the Lust for Life cut because, as Lana stated, she thought of it as a sister song to "The Next Best American Record" which also didn't make the cut, and I say that that is interesting because both songs did end up being released but on different albums (although "The Next Best American Record" underwent pretty significant lyrical changes that kind of changed its meaning). You can tell that "Yosemite" is an outtake from Lust for Life because it sonically sounds exactly like the overall tone of that album. Although not necessarily one of my favorites, it's a beautiful acoustic song about maintaining love for another person despite the fact that you both change over time.

My top three favorite songs on this album, in no particular order, are "Dark but Just a Game," "Not All Who Wander Are Lost," and "Breaking Up Slowly," and it's really hard for me to choose my top favorite out of those three. "Breaking Up Slowly" is definitely channeling Stevie Nicks, and guest vocalist Nikki Lane even sounds a bit like Stevie. I really love both its melody and its lyrics, and in keeping with a lot of folk music, the lyrics are simple but meaningful, speaking of the complicated situation of loving someone even though you're unhappy in the relationship: "...breakin' up slowly is a hard thing to do," Del Rey and Lane assert in the catchy chorus. "I love you only, but it's makin' me blue... It's hard to be lonely, but it's the right thing to do." (Chemtrails came out a little after a bad breakup that I went through myself last month, and hearing this song was a little bit comforting to hear which could very well account for some of my attachment to it.) Although it's hard for me to explain why, "Dance Till We Die" (likely a reference to "Lust for Life" in which she sings that we "gotta dance 'til we die") is one of my least favorite songs on the album; I just don't feel much attachment to it. Like many of the songs on the album, it's a folksy song featuring piano and guitar, although it also, as is typical of Lana Del Rey, features remnants of jazz, and it also picks up in intensity more than halfway through, with Lana using rougher and more aggressive vocals than she typically does, channeling classic rock artists such as Janis Joplin. She also mentions covering Joni Mitchell in the lyrics, so it probably isn't a coincidence that the following (and final) track is "For Free," a cover of a Joni Mitchell song. Joining Lana on this cover are Weyes Blood and Zella Day, and it's very faithful to the piano driven original. It makes for a fairly effective closing to the album, and Genius does a great job offering insight into how it ties up some of the overall themes on the album. I overall like Chemtrails over the Country Club but, compared to the masterpiece that is NFR!, find it disappointing. It, in comparison, is much tamer and much less ambitious in my personal opinion.