(Edited Jan. 24, 2025)
I have been hyper-fixating on the four new Starset songs for the last week or so. I am obsessed. My husband bought me some studio-quality headphones for Christmas and I am enjoying them GREATLY.
So, let me do a full review of each of the new Starset songs! (Hahaha, I have been wanting to do this for so long!)
This post originally included all four of the new songs, but I wanted to do a deep dive, so I removed the other three and will do a deep dive on each one in their own post.
Starset is definitely my favorite band, and I’ve met them twice – so I will likely write a LOT about their music specifically. Starset is classified as “metal” although I wouldn’t describe them that way – their last two albums have been progressively heavier than their first two. They’re very light on the screams metal is known for, but they are adding more and more with each new record. If you love epic space melodies, you are in the right place. (Starset lore is sci-fi fantasy horror.)
Also, if you’re offended by “f bombs” you’re in the wrong place, listening to different music.
With that disclaimer out of the way, first up, we have the one that finally sunk its hook right in my earholes to drag me into this utopia of vibrations:
Dystopia
BATTEN DOWN THE F*CKING HATCHES.
This is what you GET WHEN YOU STILL PLAY WITH MATCHES
Now we go back to sticks, back to stones,
cause the WORDS broke our bones, and we’re
RIGHT BACK TO THE SAME OLD HABITS
Too bad we almost had it
The intro starts with the strings (Zuzana & Siobhan), guitars (Brock & Ron), and then a cathedral choir starts us off. Cory (synth) adds an array of futuristic-sounding effects to get us rolling in the first verse, building up the tension, and we get a countdown before we hit the first chorus.
I’ve read comments where people are complaining about the “dubstep” parts of it, but that’s an inaccurate description of what is happening here. Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is a fully-fledged genre that has a lot to offer and Cory is a master when it comes to adding just the right amount of “tech” sounds to contrast the “real” instruments.
The verses speak to truths hidden, restarting the simulation that we may be in. How societies fail their people by defunding education (Abandon mission, they’ve jammed the system; we’ve done all we can, it’s a braindead wasteland), and how many people only care about their entertainment and distractions. (We don’t need your education, we just need more simulation). I mean, honestly, I can’t blame them. The world is in a dark place right now.
The bridge harkens back to a Hotel California situation, and most people alive today probably can’t immediately place that song. (We’re the victims of our own device). And then the bridge comes in.
Lock your windows, close your doors, and hide
Something wicked has got inside
The song is haunting and beautiful and like all the songs they have written before, takes no time before it slaps me right in the face with how amazing it is. Maybe I am just a sucker for all of the rotating sounds. I definitely am. They are using the spatial/3D audio engineering here, and I’m not sure how else to describe it. The guitar is slightly asynchronized in its spatial pattern (which in my mind is shaped like an infinity sign) as it ventures around your head, which I believe is on purpose, and leads my attention around in circles when the bridge starts. (I call this the “wambly part”.)
Too bad we almost had it.
And this line, a passive aggressive acknowledgement of the failures of society at large, kind of feels like being teased by a bully, in a “nanny-nanny-boo-boo” kind of way. I think it’s meant to drive home the point that even as flawed as we are, our world didn’t have to be this way, possibly implying inattention causes us to lose things.
When the choir comes in at the end (3:46) and that “wambly” guitar – weaving in and out, up and down, almost behind you – it is straight up magic with headphones on. If you get music tingles like I do, this part right here is what we live for – that soaring energy shooting straight up the back of your neck. Sucks that I have to miss AO3 this year; I would love to shake Brock’s hand because the man is a genius.
It’s a shame that I don’t play drums, because I know Adam is just all over it, as well. My ears are weirdly not sensitive enough to fully appreciate it, but I plan on learning – so one day that will change.
This song is am epic and magnificent journey through what our future could look like because of our own self-inflicted ignorance.
Now we go back to sticks, back to stones,
cause the words broke our bones, and we’re
Right back to the same old habits
Too bad we almost had it