Like All Before You＜Colored Vinyl＞

THE STROKESのフロントマンであるジュリアン・カサブランカスのサイド・プロジェクトTHE VOIDZが新アルバム『LIKE ALL BEFORE YOU』を待望のリリース!前作『VIRTUE』をリリースしてからは様々な配信シングルをリリースし、その素晴らしくもありカオスでもあるTHE VOIDZの真髄を見せつけてきた彼らが作り上げた本作には、様々な音色を融合させたTHE VOIDZ独自のサウンドが没入感たっぷりに刻み込まれています。2024年の必聴アルバムとなること間違い無し!

"When I get there, Ill get there," Julian Casablancas sings at one point on Like All Before You. Its a statement that could apply to the six-year wait for the Voidz third full-length, following 2018s Virtue, but it also captures the albums surprisingly noncommittal feel. Like All Before You 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 wouldve made "When Will the Time of These Bastards End" a showstopper on Tyranny or Virtue. Too often, much of the albums remaining momentum and meaning are snuffed out by Casablancas buried vocals. A quarter century after Is This It, hes still one of rocks most commanding voices; though he may have tired of putting that voice front and center, the scratch-quality vocals on Like All Before You leave its songs adrift. And while hes 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 Like All Before You fails to showcase either Casablancas hooky brilliance or the Voidz elaborate interplay, there are a few highlights. The albums restraint works in the favor of "Spectral Analysis"s flirtation with ambient pop, and the bands 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 Orders "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, the Voidz bring volatile fun back to their music. Putting aside the fact that almost half of these songs appeared over a year before the albums release, the anticlimactic feel of Like All Before You is striking. The Voidz always felt completely invested in their music on Tyranny and Virtue, 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 Casablancas and company to express their boldest musical ideas and political statements, its hard to hear Like All Before You as anything but a disappointing act of self-sabotage. ~ Heather Phares