Debuted on May 3rd, 2024, Brave New World was the first of the four new Starset songs that have been released thus far.
Every album, the band grows heavier and heavier. This might be the heaviest Starset song so far. Melodic Metal has been my favorite genre for my entire life (example: Metallica, Until It Sleeps) and that particular Metallica song is NOT AS HEAVY. So I guess if that is the bar (I mean it’s METALLICA), then yes, Starset is definitely a Metal Band.
\m/ Congrats to Starset for being officially dubbed metal by me. Grats, guys. <3
And when it all blows up, the sun will still be shining
and when it all falls down, you think you’ll still pretend?
I got a feeling in the end you might be lying
So tell me are you happy now, living in the upside-down
Givin it a whirl?
IT’S A BRAVE NEW F*CKING WORLD
A lot to unpack here.
Overall, I believe Brave New World is a commentary on where we find ourselves right now: the return of fascism. This is why I think so, here’s the first verse:
1. Eye for eye, we cross this divide
2. One for one, into our demise
3. It’s a parasitic trend,
4. Looking for a victim
5. Stuck inside a hivemind fantasy
6. But the static in your head is a feature of the system
7. Just another digital lobotomy
(Lines 1-2)
My mind reads this as left- and right-leaning people separating themselves from people on the other side.
(Lines 3)
People have compared our civilization to a parasite or virus on the planet.
(Lines 4-5)
Humans have a brutal history and have been fighting to survive for the last 3.5 million years (125,000 years for modern humans). All we innately know how to do is fight, so these lines point to the predatory nature inside of us – we know how it feels to be bullied, or be the bully. The hivemind fantasy I think is describing Twitter/X.
(Lines 6-7)
I think this is definitely all of the misinformation campaigns going on around the world. Propaganda is everywhere. The static in your head is confusion.
In my earliest draft of this post, I wrote: “Dustin’s frustration is shining through like the most beautiful magnetar here. His soul is on display. I thought he had nailed it with Tunnelvision on Horizons, but DAMN.”
Dustin doesn’t seem to be the type of person to shy away from a fight against bullshit. He has already written political songs, so this is not his first rodeo. (And yes Tunnelvision is WORTH A LISTEN.)
He goes on to talk about how we are all the same (even though we believe we are different) and all of us are susceptible to brainwashing:
Rage
You think you’re enemies but you’re all the
same
So maybe it’s just you;
And the monsters tried and they got inside,
but they weren’t under your bed, they’re in your brains,
manipulating you.
I have been listening to this song for an hour straight and it just keeps getting better and better.
I’m sure we all kind of feel it. The different ways we are led to believe this or that. Or how tiresome it is to be paying attention right now.
Leads me to the bridge
The bigger the lie, the further it goes
It’s all fun and games til the overthrow
When it gets inside and it starts to grow
Then say goodbye, cause that’s the deathblow
But I’m not giving up that easy
I’m not giving up my mind
Cause the more that you try, the more that they need
There’s nowhere to hide when they break out the guillotine
This song was released last May and I really hope it wasn’t Dustin trying to warn us, because literally nobody listened. Including me; I’d just been laid off and I couldn’t afford any new purchases (I spend too much on bands; I kid, that is impossible) so I actively avoided listening to their new music because I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford all the new shinies I would be wanting when I finally did listen.
Either way, the music video is cool. It’s like two astronauts that are doing the same thing as each other, and eventually meet at a black hole or something, and the people controlling the simulation are there. Some city gets messed up. (Honestly it’s art in its own right and deserves just as much love as I’m giving the song.)
Definitely a banger, the guys knocked it out of the park with this one, and I wish I hadn’t missed out on A03!
But when it all blows up the sun will still be shining
<3