Garbage - No Gods No Masters [Review]

American alternative rock band Garbage recently released its highly anticipated seventh studio album No Gods No Masters after a wait of five years following 2016's Strange Little Birds. The album is definitely timely, as it is, as frontwoman Shirley Manson has stated herself, a commentary on "the rise of capitalist short-sightedness, racism, sexism and misogyny across the world." I say that that's timely because of recent events such as the United States enduring four years under a racist and misogynist president as well as movements like the Black Lives Matter movement, and I really appreciate it when artists turn something like that into art. With No Gods No Masters being the band's seventh studio album, Manson and the rest of the band also said that they tied the number 7 into the album's concepts in various ways, with Manson having said, "This is our seventh record, the significant numerology of which affected the DNA of its content: the seven virtues, the seven sorrows, and the seven deadly sins." This album admittedly took some time to grow on me, but there is one particular song that I instantly loved. (Stay tuned to find out which one.) It opens with the lead single "The Men Who Rule the World," a catchy and relatively heavy alternative rock track that opens the album with what sounds like slot machine sound effects. This makes sense because the song is lyrically about the privilege that comes along with being male and how that sometimes leads to being powerful and financially well off. The sounds of the casino slot machines therefore represent money, and Kesha did something similar on her song "Rich, White, Straight Men" - a song with a similar theme that makes use of the sounds of coins dropping and cash registers opening and closing. This track is definitely a highlight on the album and is, as I said, very catchy. There is, funnily enough, even a recurrent hook in the song that goes, "Stuck inside my head, stuck inside my head all the fucking time," and the song is, indeed, frequently stuck inside my head. I love the 8-bit aspect of the instrumental, probably emphasizing the idea that the titular men who rule the world are playing a long game, and I also love the relatively heavy guitar in the chorus, making it, as I said, one of the album's heavier tracks. It's a memorable track and a great opening to the album!

"The Creeps" is kind of reminiscent of old school Garbage, and I have seen a lot of fans say that a good portion of the album makes them feel nostalgic about Garbage's earlier days. It's one of the album's faster paced songs, with a fast beat and Shirley pretty rapidly spitting out in the chorus, "I cannot let my feelings to keep hijacking my brain... I'm gonna think my way around this wall I cannot change." The song is definitely about conquering anxiety and embarrassment, and as Shirley Manson has stated, it's about her experience having been dropped by Interscope Records back around 2009 and how that made her feel. "Uncomfortably Me" drops the energy down a little bit. While not quite a soft ballad, it's softer than the first two tracks. I especially love the low and bassy electronic humming underneath. The lyrics essentially address Imposter Syndrome, an inability to see one's success for what it is and instead seeing oneself as undeserving. "Too busy hating on myself, a waste of time, a waste of space," Shirley admits in the bridge. It's a great song to follow "The Creeps" because both songs are about being uncomfortable in one's own headspace. "Wolves" brings the energy back up a little bit - an alternative rock song with energy similar (at least in my opinion) to that of MARINA's new song "Purge the Poison." Not necessarily a highlight on the album for me (mainly because I find its melody to be one of the weakest on the album), the song speaks of struggling with two halves. It's a common belief that we have both light and dark in us - a duality. Genius, for example, talks about the Cherokee belief that we have two wolves inside of us - one that is good and one that is evil and that the one that comes out on top is the one that we choose to feed. That's essentially what the song is about, questioning which wolf you will choose to feed. No Gods No Masters then gives us "Waiting for God," one of my favorite tracks on the album. One of the softest songs on the album, it features a low, almost tribal beat with Shirley's soft voice which is distorted at the end of each verse. It's a very beautiful song and is also haunting, not only in its sound but in its lyrics which address some of the injustices that we have seen in the world over the last several years, especially school shootings and racially charged hate crimes. "...Tears won't bring them back," Manson laments in the bridge, bringing to light what many people say about how action needs to be taken because prayers and tears aren't going to change anything.

My absolute favorite song on No Gods No Masters is definitely "Godhead," an industrial electro-rock track infused to the brim with Nine Inch Nails influence. I can't get enough of this song's groove, its bouncing and grinding rhythm that makes me want to dance or even... well, you know, to it. (Let's just say that its beat is very sexy.) It is definitely one of the more lyrically explicit songs on the album and is also pretty sexually charged, although it isn't meant to be literal, as it's making a statement about sexism and misogyny. "If I had a dick, would you blow it?" she sings in a whispered tone several times throughout the song. While this is an obvious reference to fellatio (which is also likely referenced in the song's title as head is another term used for fellatio), it is, as I said, not intended to be literal. Getting on one's knees is sometimes a phrase used in those sexual terms, but it's also used to imply worship or respect, and Shirley is asking if she would be more respected if she were male. She is also, I think, asking if she would be sexually objectified to the same extent if she were a man. She, in the second verse, whispers, "Get off my tits...," and this, again, is likely meant to have more than one meaning. Genius points to the possibility that she is essentially calling toxic men babies, instructing them to stop feeding off her the way that a baby would, and I love that idea. A woman is also often sexually objectified, however, because of her breasts, so she is also likely demanding that that stop. (This once again calls back to the idea of her asking whether or not her dick would be blown if she had one. Would she be objectified the same way if she had a penis rather than breasts?) It's a ridiculously catchy song begging to be danced to, and I absolutely love its industrial production and clever, tongue-in-cheek lyrics. "Anonymous XXX" is pretty straightforward in what it's about - anonymous sex. (In fact, the XXX part of the title is most likely meant to be Sex, similar to how the clean version of Lady Gaga's "Sexxx Dreams" is titled "X Dreams.") The song has a bit of ska flavor to it, bringing in saxophone as well as rapidly strumming acoustic guitar. (It in fact reminds me a great deal of '90s No Doubt.) "Don't tell me your name," Shirley asserts in the second verse (although unlikely from her own perspective). "I don't want to know. Don't come too close. I don't want you to..." As I said, it's very clearly about people who enjoy taking part in sex with strangers and maybe even questioning why.

"A Woman Destroyed" is quiet and sultry in a way that reminds me of the band's last album Strange Little Birds, especially its opening track "Sometimes." The song does eventually bring in a little bit more energy but really only in its chorus. It's mostly a softer and atmospheric trip hop track, but I absolutely adore its marching bells that come in a little more than halfway through. I think that there are two ways to interpret the song. One is that its titular character (the woman destroyed) is seeking revenge on her former lover for having been unfaithful to her ("you swapped your queen out for a pawn"). That is, in fact, likely the sole way that I would personally interpret it if not for a statement made by Shirley Manson in which she explained that the song was written from the perspective of a woman who has been abused and/or sexually assaulted and is on a path toward revenge. It's similar to how I would have interpreted the song except the cause is different, but the revenge aspect of it is pretty obvious: "Lock your door; get a guard dog... Better sleep with all the lights on," she warns. "Flipping the Bird" brings the mood up considerably, at least in its sound. It features an instrumental very reminiscent of The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love," and I have also seen some fans compare it to Garbage's 1998 song "When I Grow Up," which I can definitely hear. The title of the song is obviously in reference to the gesture one might make of sticking their middle finger up at someone, and I think that it's very clear that Manson is doing so toward men who think that she isn't smart enough to have thoughts of her own because she is a woman. The word that is often used to describe this is mansplaining, which is when a man condescendingly explains something to a woman in a degrading way. "I stopped listening to you years ago," Manson opens in the first verse. "You always think that you know best, I know. I hear you explain things from the other room," and she then sings in the chorus that "you tell me who you think I am." As I said, I think that it's very clearly about toxic and womanizing men who treat women as ignorant children who need to be talked down to. It's interesting, however, how there is also a small bit of empathy afforded such men, or at least there seems to be. The bridge features the following words: "You try to love, but you're too far gone inside. Your own self-worth, it died inside." This, to me, implies that maybe such men are projecting their own feelings of worthlessness onto others, especially women.

No Gods No Masters then offers up its title track, an upbeat electro-rock song. I love its catchy chorus and its anthemic quality, and it lyrically dreams of a better future in which we are kind to one another and take control of our own destinies rather than believe that they're in the hands of powerful men and/or (a) god(s). The album then closes (sort of, anyway; I will get to that in a bit) with "This City Will Kill You," a moody and cinematic trip-hop song with trilling piano chords that I adore. The song is ultimately about being miserable and in pain while encouraging us to claw our way out of that: "You got to get out," Manson urges us. "You got to run, got to quit this town." I also love how she says that "everybody's praying that it rains; it's been promised now for a few days..." because it is very likely a reference to what is probably Garbage's most eminent hit, "Only Happy When It Rains." It is definitely a highlight for me, especially because of, as I said, the haunting, fluttering piano that I love so much. That is how the standard album ends, but I purchased the two-disc deluxe edition of the album which features a bonus disc of eight extra tracks - songs that had previously been released as stand-alone singles over the last several years. In fact, you could even argue that "No Horses" is the album's lead single because it was released back in 2017 with the news that it would possibly be featured on the band's seventh album. The tracks featured here are "No Horses," "Starman" (a cover of the David Bowie classic), "Girls Talk" (a heavy alternative rock track featuring Distillers frontwoman Brody Dalle), "Because the Night" (a cover of the Patti Smith song that features Screaming Females), "On Fire" (originally released as the b-side to the following song), "The Chemicals" (featuring Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups), "Destroying Angels" (which features John Doe and Exene Cervenka of X), and "Time Will Destroy Everything" (released as the b-side to "Girls Talk"). What's interesting about these songs is that most of them were originally released closer to Strange Little Birds; "Girls Talk," "Time Will Destroy Everything," "Because the Night," "The Chemicals," and "On Fire" were all released before Strange Little Birds was released yet are featured as bonus tracks here rather than on that album. Regardless, however, I am glad that they finally have a shared home, and I am so pleased with No Gods No Masters. It is a memorable album with charged messages that are so very important to hear, especially right now.

Garbage - Strange Little Birds [Review]

If Garbage has ever been good at anything, it's at making fantastic, catchy rock music, and the band's latest effort, Strange Little Birds, is no exception. The album's art definitely demonstrates a cat theme, so the title is a bit odd, but it comes from lyrics from the song "Even Though Our Love Is Doomed": "Such strange little birds devoured by our obsessions." Although I don't think that I like Strange Little Birds quite as much as I like the last album, Not Your Kind of People, I do definitely really love it, and it's one of my favorite Garbage albums to date. The album opens with "Sometimes," which really feels like an intro at less than three minutes long. The song, to me, speaks of wanting to be in control because you've reached a point at which you feel confused and maybe even helpless. That control could even come in the form of learning from being abused. The song features a soft and slow intro featuring piano and strings but picks up a little bit with a pulsating beat. Even after the beat comes in, though, most of the song is fueled by the piano and strings, making it one of the softest songs on the album. The song abruptly ends and moves into the heavy anthem "Empty," the album's lead single. "Empty" is, as I said, pretty heavy and sounds like an alternative rock song from the '90s. I love singing along to this catchy chorus and really relate to the song, as it speaks of never feeling good enough and finding validation from someone else, consequently becoming obsessed with them. "I'm so empty," the chorus declares. "You're all I think about." It's a great anthemic song and is a real highlight on the album.

As opposed to "Sometimes" being rather short at under three minutes long, the third track on Strange Little Birds is well over six minutes long. "Blackout" is, in fact, apparently the longest Garbage song yet, as in spanning across the course of their career. The song is a midtempo rock song that has an '80s vibe to it, both with its instrumental production and its vocal production. There are also wordless vocals in the chorus that remind me a lot of The Cranberries, another female-fronted rock band that rose at around the same time that Garbage did. I lyrically liken the song to "Let It Go" from the Disney film Frozen, especially regarding its chorus: "Try not to think. Be cool. Be calm. Be fake. Dumb yourself down. Numb yourself out. Fake it 'til you make it break." A Frozen fan may be reminded of the line "Conceal; don't feel" from "Let It Go," the film's most popular song. The fourth track on the album is another highlight for me. Titled "If I Lost You," the song is a downtempo, trip-hop song that reminds me of a combination of Depeche Mode, Dido, and Goldfrapp. The song speaks of being so in love with someone that you can't imagine your life without them: "Sometimes, I believe that I might die if I lost you." I know from experience that this is a very dangerous feeling, but it is also a very human feeling that many of us experience throughout our lives. One thing that I really love about "If I Lost You" is that it takes me right back to the '90s.

"Night Drive Loneliness" is not only a highlight on the album for me but is even my top favorite song on the album. Although considerably more reserved, it reminds me a bit of the opening track from Not Your Kind of People, "Automatic Systematic Habit," in that it has an industrial, Marilyn Manson-esque sound to it. I love this song not only because of its industrial sound but also because of its lyrics. I unfortunately don't yet have a car (it's well beyond my budget), but one reason why I am really looking forward to having one is because I imagine taking drives to be therapeutic for my occasional depression and anxiety, and this would be a perfect sounding song to have jamming during the experience. "My night drive loneliness comes again and again," Shirley Manson confesses. I love this song so very much and hope that we will be treated to a music video for it. I think that the sixth song, "Even Though Our Love Is Doomed," was the second song for the band to release from the album, although it is not technically a single. The song is a midtempo alternative rock song that is fueled primarily by plucked strings and carried through by Manson's low, breathy voice. The song doesn't really get louder until close to the end when it finally gets heavier. The song speaks of wanting to fight for someone even though they're very likely not meant to be together. "I need to understand why we kill the things we love the most," Manson laments.

"Magnetized" picks up the energy that dwindled down after "Blackout." After an electronic, atmospheric opening, Manson asserts, "I'm not in love," although by the end of the song, I definitely get the impression that she is trying to convince herself of that more than anything else. The chorus doesn't really go anywhere lyrically, as it keeps repeating "I'm magnetized," but there is a lot of weight in the verses: "You bring your light; I'll bring the pain. You bring your joy; I'll bring my shame." I believe Shirley to be saying that her attraction to this person is intense and that she probably does love the person but can't admit that because she is broken and would be opening herself up to the previous song's doomed love. The energy stays at approximately the same level with "We Never Tell," the album's eighth track. The song is an uptempo electro-rock song about being inseparable from someone and wanting to set an example of love for the rest of the world: "Let's give 'em something to remember, something to talk about on their telephones, on their couch at home." "So We Can Stay Alive" is another electro-rock song but has a really strong, pulsating drive to it that punctuates the heavy, persistent guitar riffs that energize most of the song. As an English professor, I certainly appreciate the song's use of alliteration, such as the whispered "victor, vanquish, valour" and "lust and love, our lives..." Shirley has said that the song is about using our impending mortality as fuel to live the best lives that we possibly can. Although not as long as "Blackout," the song is rather lengthy at about exactly six minutes long.

"Teaching Little Fingers to Play" is probably my second favorite song from Strange Little Birds following "Night Drive Loneliness." The beginning of the song sonically reminds me a lot of Madonna's cover of "I Want You," and like "If I Lost You," it sounds very trip-hop-esque. The song sounds like it might be making use of a keyboard. What I love the most about the song is its beautiful chorus; Manson's lilting notes independently assert that "I'm all grown up... no one around to fix me now... Doing it my own way..." The final song on the standard edition of the album is "Amends," an epic industrial rock song at six minutes long. The song, to me, speaks of wanting closure from a person who has deeply hurt you. The most poignant lyrics for me are "It's what you do; don't make it right. Matter of fact, it's called revenge. Cut off your nose to spite your face. It's pretty cruel shutting me out." Present on "Amends" is definitely a woman scorned who wants answers. "...I know it's not my place," she says, "to tell you how to live your life, but to forget somebody's sins is divine..." This is sheer lyrical power and is a great closing track, especially with its epic instrumental break more than halfway through. Although the standard version ends there, the vinyl features an additional song, titled "FWY," an abbreviation of "Fucking with You." It's a shame that it's only available on the vinyl because I don't have a record player and don't plan on buying one anytime soon because vinyls are very expensive, but I did have the pleasure of hearing the song thanks to a YouTube uploader.

"FWY" also makes a great closing track. It starts on a low orchestral note, sounding very much like it might work as a James Bond theme (which, of course, Garbage has done before with "The World Is Not Enough"). "FWY" is a very slow track, with a very downtempo beat. It's definitely the slowest song on the album, although it does get louder and heavier a little more than halfway through. This is, in some ways, a continuation of "Amends," as it is addressing a man who has cheated on her. "FWY" is much more sad and tragic, though, as Manson places some of the blame on herself: "I want you to know I will always love you. I need you to know I forgive you. I want you to know that I was also to blame. I was never easy to live with back then." Cheating is never, ever okay, and I don't think that someone who has been a victim of it should have to apologize for it. The song is extremely explicit, as the titular lyric is talking about literal fucking, as in having sex. "You said there was no one quite like me," Shirley points out. "Coming inside me felt like coming home." This is another song to which I relate on a visceral level, and I really love the song and its trip-hop sound. I so wish that it were on the CD. In conclusion, however, I love Strange Little Birds. It effectively captures the dark side of falling in and being in love, and I love its trip-hop influence and its electro-rock sounds. It's definitely one of the best Garbage albums to date, as many Garbage fans have been seeming to agree.

Garbage - Not Your Kind of People [Review]

It's a beautiful gift when amazing music comes along that makes you feel so good inside that you just want to walk down the street with your iPod and scream the lyrics out loud to no one in particular, just because you can, and Garbage's latest record, Not Your Kind of People, is such music, a memorable album that I think (or at at least hope) fans will always regard as special. The title pretty much signifies the theme of the album in five simple words - not your kind of people, as the album deals a great deal with feeling like an outcast, like you don't belong anywhere. It's a feeling with which is difficult to deal but is also a feeling for which music has a curing flair. It's the band's first record in seven years, and although I haven't been a Garbage fan that long, I can only imagine that this must have been worth the wait because this is a great album. The beautiful Shirley Manson has pipes, and she knows how to move listeners with her domineering, powerful voice, a voice that rocks harder than most female musicians of which I am aware. The album opens with "Automatic Systematic Habit" which is just killer, if that's a good description to use. As soon as the track starts with its funky electric guitar melody, you just know that this is going to be something special, and I mean the album in general, not just the song. The song is an epic industrial rock piece with a head-bobbing chorus that features Shirley's conviction that "I won't be your dirty little secret." "Big Bad World" sounds like the acoustic version of Avril Lavigne's "What the Hell" when it first begins, but it's, of course, nothing at all like that. It's a very mellow rock song about how the world always seems to shine when you're in love. I love the line: "You're a satellite around my heart."


"Blood for Poppies" was released as the first U.S. single from the album, and I adore this song. When I first heard it, I was immediately interested and said to myself, this is going to be an interesting album. "Blood for Poppies" is a fast-paced, groovy track, and Shirley's words are so cleverly mashed together during the verses that it's almost like she's rapping, and I actually had to look up the lyrics to determine what she is saying during certain parts. Much as I had suspected, Shirley said that the song is about feeling like you're living in a crazy world, a world in which you have to struggle to stay sane. I'm thinking that "Control" will probably be a future single, and it's really interesting, its sound once it gets "loud" reminding me of the Old West, for one reason or another. I can almost hear the song being on a modern Western soundtrack. I love the line: "It's always darkest right before the dawn." Even though that is an adage that is almost a cliché, it works for Garbage for some reason. "Not Your Kind of People" may be my favorite song from the album, a painfully wistful and brooding song about being different, about being outcasts, and making that declaration to "normal" people. As much as I love "Beloved Freak" being the (standard) album's closer, I almost think that this would have worked better; it's such a beautiful song that, to me, rings finality via its tone. "Felt" is very reminiscent of 90s Smashing Pumpkins; it sounds, in fact, almost exactly like something that they would have done. It's a strange track, with loud guitar that overpowers Shirley's whispery vocals. "I Hate Love" is probably the album's most "electronic" piece, with some parts almost sounding like something that Madonna would have had on her American Life album. It's a great, angry tune about having had your heart broken by someone whom you thought was never going to betray you.

"Sugar" is one of the weaker tracks. It's kind of bland in comparison to most of the remainder of the album's colorful nature, beginning with Shirley's soft vocals overlaying a very soft guitar, and while you keep expecting the song to pick up in excitement, it never really does. "Battle in Me" was released as the first single over in the U.K., and this is a great song. It's one of the "poppier" tracks of the album, kind of sounding like something that Shiny Toy Guns might do; it also registers, to me, some possible Joan Jett influence. "Man on a Wire" immediately demands our attention with its heavy guitar riffs, and it's one that you can tell was fun for the band to record. "Beloved Freak" is absolutely gorgeous. When I first heard it, I was trying to endure the most difficult era of my life, and it made me cry. It is such an utterly beautiful song that assures listeners that no matter how difficult things get, you're not alone in the world, no matter how much it may feel like it, because you're a beautiful human being. It's the kind of song that really should be used to support an anti-bullying campaign. That's where the standard edition closes, but the deluxe edition moves into "The One" which is a fun, upbeat "electronic rock" song that is about being angry and frustrated because the one whom you love seems to keep playing games with you instead of just embracing your love. "What Girls Are Made Of" is probably the strangest song on the album, a "country electronic rock" (yeah, like I said, it's strange) song that is deeply reminiscent of Blondie. "Bright Tonight" is another song in which Shirley sort of whispers the vocals, and it's a very soft, downtempo track about that one special person functioning as your night's stars; it's a really pretty song. The deluxe closes with "Show Me" which is another one that makes use of a country twang, and it also sounds like it belongs in a Western. It picks up a bit, but it's another weaker one for me; it's not a great way to say goodbye to the album, in my opinion.

I am a huge fan of Evanescence, and I know that Amy Lee has said on more than one occasion that she really likes Garbage and that they were an inspiration for her, and I follow both Amy (@AmyLeeEV) and Garbage (@garbage) on Twitter, which is how I discovered that they met in person and are friends, which really excited me. Additionally, I am a fan of the Marina and the Diamonds, and likewise, Marina has met the band, and they are now friends, too. I really hope for some future collaborations; that would be awesome. "Blood for Poppies" was recently featured (in the faint background, mind you) in a True Blood episode, which is pretty awesome, as I am a fan of that TV series. Not Your Kind of People, to me, carries of message of hope, hope to keep us alive during troubling, challenging times, and that's primarily what keeps it afloat for me, because not only is most of the music really memorable because of its sound, its melodies, thematically, it is a very strong album, as well. Although I don't feel that Garbage always does a fantastic job putting out exciting album covers (VERSION 2.0 is one of the blandest album covers that I've ever seen, and I mean no disrespect to the band when I say that; it's just an opinion), their music is definitely exciting, and I sincerely hope that it's not another seven years that they put a new album out, and I also hope that their next release will be as good as this one. Garbage is known for their catchy, deep and meaningful songs ("Bleed Like Me" and "Androgyny" both come immediately to mind), and it's so good to know that they don't seem to have any plans of disappearing any time soon. Vocally, Shirley delivers, and the band is nothing short of a memorable band that I'm sure has made a great impact on many people's lives.