Review Summary: Verdict: the album does tend to get repetitive and clocking at a grand total of over 50 minutes, some of the songs on the album outstay their welcome, although there are a few great tunes. Furthermore, there is a mix of great songs such as ‘Levitate’
‘Every Weekend’ by Hadouken! has a more rap orientated edge to the album than previous records 2011’s ‘Music For an Accelerated Culture’ and 2009’s‘For the Masses’. The alum kick starts with ‘The Vortex’ with Prodigy- esque bass lines and animosity with lyrics such as ‘“Each and every weekend/ we spend it like the whole worlds ending”encouraging hedonistic lifestyles as well as sounding like one of Tyler Durden’s inspirational speeches from‘Fight Club’.Front man Jamie Smith spits the lyrics out aggressively although the song does start to get a bit repetitive.
The next track ‘Levitate’ is the stand out track of the album and incorporates electro pop with Jamie smith’s old school gospel vocals as well as the pulsing beats that define Hadouken! and is a mix of material from ‘For the Masses’ and ‘Music for an Accelerated Culture’ which would no look out of place in an Ibiza nightclub. ‘Bliss Out’ is another great track from the album. Fans of FIFA 13 will probably recognize this tune about the delicacies of getting high and is homage to late night benders and hangovers the next morning. There is an effective transition from the peaceful and slow chorus in comparison to the verse which is more gritty and ominous.
‘Spill Your Guts’ disrupts the happy momentum and features Smith rapping furiously over bleak dubstep beats and a warp of swirling electronics and is infectious and is all in all a good listen. Like ‘Bliss Out’, ‘The Comedown’features the trnasitions from clean melodies to gritty gtime rap in the verses, although the song isn’t as catchy and uplifting as the former.
‘Parasite’ is probably the darkest song on the album with its Jamie Smith on the verge of meltdown with his Oli Sykes-esque vocals that wouldn’t look out of place in death metal music. The track also reinforces the message that Hadouken! are not afraid to be aggressive unlike other drum n bass bands such as the cautious Pendulum. ‘Parasite’ also seems destined to be a crowd favorite during live shows.
‘Bad Signal’ narrates the impact of social media although the puns and lyrics fall flat as the song is truthfully entirely pointless, although the song features a catchy chorus, cleverly sampled from ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’ by The Supremes.‘As One’ is catchy and infectious although the song features a bizarre mid-section with Europop keyboards that does not match the nature of the song.
