Crossfade Reviews: Manchester Orchestra "The Million Masks of God"

 by Karl W.

Manchester Orchestra "The Million Masks of God"
[Loma Vista]
Indie Rock/Progressive Rock

    I'm admittedly not entirely familiar with Manchester Orchestra. The Atlanta-based indie band has been since the mid 2000s and a silent following for some time, though saw some critical acclaim for their 2017 album "A Black Mile to the Surface", a concept album surrounding the internal struggles and conflicts of a family feud. It was my first experience with the band, and while the concept didn't come together completely, the themes of family and the dark, progressive rock style made the harder moments really hit for me. Now, four years later, we have a new album that seems to veer away from the concept album route, but maintains the harder elements from their previous album...and I'll be damned if this didn't end up pretty great as well.

    This album follows a lot of the thematic similarities with the last album, as mentioned before. However, with a few more years of being a father course spending time raising a family during quarantine, Andy Hull digs more into his own personal emotions and insecurities. The album focuses on life as much as it does death, with another big emotional through line being the death of Robert McDowell's father. Insecurity and uncertainty bleeds through the entire album, like on "Inaudible", "Angel of Death", or "Let It Storm", where a struggle with death and an afterlife that lead singer Andy Hull is unsure even exists, internalizing his complicated feelings with faith that he seems to get a hold of in "Let It Storm" to some extent. However, those insecurities still lie in songs revolving around his newfound fatherhood, namely in "Dinosaur" and "Obstacle", surrounding him wanting to make a better life for his son. It really is the thematic progression from "A Black Mile to the Surface", one that explores life and death, like that album did, but goes even further beyond from there.

    That all being said, the album itself also sounds incredible. The band doubles down on some of the darker sounds per their last album, though they experiment more with their progressive rock sound and even some electronic stylings on the song "Bed Head", the lead off single and one of the album highlights. The album also excels in its lead-ins from other songs, such as from "Keel Timing" into "Bed Head" or "Dinosaur" to "Obstacle". With the dark uncertainty and deep his has the potential to end up as an album of the year contender for me. The album blends its hard-hitting and frenetic songs like "Keel Timing" with its more subdued and lush, but still powerful guitar-led ballads like "Telepath". Honestly, it was hard to really find flaws with this album asides that some of the songs might meander a little bit. However, this is an album that sees Manchester Orchestra at their peak as far as their songcraft and one that could be a strong contender for album of the year for me.

Best Songs: "Angel of Death", "Keel Timing", "Bed Head", "Telepath", "Let It Storm", "Obstacle", "Way Back"
Worst Song: "Inaudible" (though it's still pretty good)
9/10 (Amazing)