Review Summary: Darwin be damned, there's still blood pumping here. But for how long？
Artificial Selection is the most experimental and diverse Dance Gavin Dance album to date. As wonderful as that sounds, a deeper implication seems to be nagging at its coattails. On this record, Dance Gavin Dance feels like a band of cult legend that has finally decided to experiment so much because they were beginning to succumb to the wear of constant touring, recording, and ultimately growing older. As such, it feels like this may be the beginning of the final chapter for the band. An idea that is highlighted by the swan song-like inclusion of a stream of tasteful references to their earlier work in the final song Evaporate, a worthy follow-up to 2016’s Magnum Opus of a closer - Man of the Year. Despite the saddening possibility of what I’ve described here, this effort is arguably the most interesting DGD release since Tilian came aboard, and it has something to offer for fans of every era and incarnation of the legendary quintet.
Mothership is a divisive album in that it seems to divide both the old and the new Dance Gavin Dance fanbase. The old school fans see the wacky production, occasionally cringey humor, and lack of semi-ironic wit or energy in Gibberish Lord Jon’s performances to indicate that modern DGD is a miss, while many newcomers believe the recent records to be the pinnacle of the group’s discography because of their accessibility. I fall squarely in the middle of these two parties. To the fans of modern DGD, take heart knowing that they haven’t given up too much of what made Mothership a great album. To the delight of the old school fans, however, they’ll notice that many of the criticisms that could be given about Mothership have been alleviated on ARS. Mess, though not as witty or semi-ironic as he once was, delivers a consistent vocal potency and energy that hasn’t been seen since Acceptance Speech. “I’m smoking weed out of a pussy filled with money, I like this...,” will certainly struggle to leave your skull after he forcefully brands it in there with flaming hot irons. None of that even touches on Jon’s brilliance on The Rattler though, which is the arguably heaviest song on the album and one that sounds like it would feel right at home on the upcoming Secret Band release. Further, Tilian seems to have really found a groove in his vocal performances with incredibly powerful and melodic performances on Son of Robot, Bloodsucker, and Gospel Burnout. ARS even succeeds with some of the more ‘unique’ production techniques hinted at on Mothership. The bouncy electronics on Gospel Burnout make the song incredibly catchy, and the ballad-like, spaced out, autotuned nature of Count Bassy makes it arguably the most unique DGD track since People You Know - just in a very different way. Finally, both Andrew Wells from Eidola and Kurt Travis from Royal Coda (and earlier DGD) absolutely kill it on their respective songs, Evaporate and Shelf Life. Even Tim Feerick destroys it on a particular song with the smoothest bit of bass I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing in recorded music. I’ll let the readers figure out which song that is.
That said, the album isn’t perfect. One of the strange yet alluring elements of Dance Gavin Dance is that any single part considered bad by a specific individual is often the best part to someone else, so this is obviously subjective, however, I found some of Tilian’s lyrics to be rather weak. The fact that, “East West equals North South,” was sung as if it was a logical or catchy follow up to the rest of his verse on Gospel Burnout is simply absurd. Not only that, but there seems to be an unusual lack of memorably amazing lyrical hooks from Tilian, with the exceptions of Bloodsucker and Evaporate. It’s almost ironic that as Mess steps up his game from Mothership, Tilian seems to falter just a bit. None of these aforementioned flaws are enough for me to dock my rating, but it was surprising as through both Tides of Man and his career so far in DGD we’ve seen Tilian write some amazing lyrics.
As can be said about any of Dance Gavin Dance’s previous records, if you didn’t like ‘em before then Artificial Selection probably won’t change your opinion. There is a lot more experimentation and diversity on this album, which I believe works to its benefit overall. Some of it succeeds beautifully, like Mingus’ use of bongo drums on Care, and some of it ends up being only just okay. Despite all of what I’ve written here, the only thing that still pounds through my head is the idea that I presented at the very beginning. Although it’s already been confirmed by the band members that DGD won’t be exiting the music scene with this album, I can’t escape the sinking feeling that this is the beginning of the final chapter. And hey, maybe that’s a good thing. If they leave before they’ve fallen from their peak, then they’ll have left a hell of a legacy. And what else could anyone ask from a band that rose from the depths of Hot Topic-core to nine albums released and the creation of a subgenre that changed Post-Hardcore forever？ Maybe some more of Jon’s Pico De Gallo, but that’s it.
