Foals are back! Finally! With their fifth album coming a fair few years after What Went Down. With the three singles we've heard already and the, quite frankly, beautiful album cover this clearly promised to be a very special era for Foals and fans of the band alike.
The album opens with the riveting "Moonlight" and it shines down upon the album like a ray of moonlight as it sets the dark, dreary undertone for the album - this is a common theme throughout the entire album as the band deal with the dear state of the world and what constantly feels like an impending doom and as the album builds and cascades it never shakes the dread.
"Syrups" is the only song on the album where I felt as though it dragged on too long and at a mere 4 minutes that's never good. The problem with the song is that it brings the building climax down a notch and makes it just drag out. I feel as though "Syrups" should have been placed earlier in the tracklist as well to match the overblown dread that takes place in the first half of the album.
Also, the second half of "Sunday" where the whole song builds into a pulsating techno-esque anthem with lead singer, Yannis Phillippakis, hauntingly chanting repeatedly "The birds are singing, it's the end of the world" - it feels like this should be the end of the album but it then moves into "I'm Done With The World" which is a more acoustic number which brings out the true nature of Yannis' voice.
Overall, this album is as dark as I'd hoped it would be - this is a true progression of Foals' sound and it's a big two fingers to other bands who disappear for years and then return with underwhelming albums. Aside from "Syrups" sitting in the middle of the album this is nigh on perfect with only a few little missteps and misfires here and there.
9/10