Review Summary: i guess they did let it in and it did take everything lol
Loathe’s brand new album,
The Things They Believe, is a collection of ambient sounds that convey approximately zero emotions. Review done.
Kidding. That would be the review if I put as much effort into it as the band put into the music present on this record. But, admittedly, they did spend a decent amount of time on the promotion and packaging of this thing. A few tweets, a handful of eerie videos rambling about how this is an ‘extension of a chapter’ and a chance to ‘get lost in sound’ or whatever, oh, and some cool song titles. Tracks 3, 6 and 11 form a sentence: ‘“Do You-’, ‘- Remember’ and ‘- The Moment”’. Pretty deep, especially since they sound precisely like everything else on the album. Other songs are equally cleverly titled, such as ‘The Year Everything and Nothing Happened’ (2020, get it, virus but also no concerts and stuff) and ‘The Rain Outside…’ (probably alludes to rain outside which can be nice but also not nice, really depends on the situation and whether you have to leave the house or not).
Funnily enough, there is absolutely no reason for these songs to be titled as such. The titles function as the only colouring of the record: the rest is for you to fill in. Not in the cool, high-artsy-art way where you can find meaning in unique arrangements of sound and the serenity of intricate peace or something. Instead, you’re presented with a fully blank canvas, two stiff paint brushes and absolutely nothing else. Good luck, have fun, lose yourself! Either way, these songs could have carried names such as ‘The Dude From Hammock Fell Asleep on His Laptop Pt. 1’ or ‘Daddy Horny, Michael’ and it would not have detracted from the record’s non-existent quality. The atmospheres Loathe demands you to get lost in appear to be lost themselves, like discarded snippets of ~spacy~ intro tracks aimlessly floating around on an abandoned Windows XP computer. Hell, the band insert bird sounds at random points and somehow manage to make them sound utterly lifeless, like sterile creatures whistling solely because they’re programmed to do so. The complete lack of engaging moments on
The Things They Believe is impressive, especially considering the fact that the band employed similar soundscapes on previous records to great effect. It appears that the absence of a metalcore context annihilates Loathe’s ability to craft intriguing ambience: stripped of their purpose of enhancing gazecore bangers™ , all that is left is a sad collection of empty shells.
Moreover, the album cover is a clear continuation of
I Let It In And It Took Everything’s themes. The band’s previous record, released precisely a year before this monumental foray into ambient music featuring The 1975’s saxophonist (at least they didn’t get vocalist dude Matthew Healy, I guess), was pretty damn good… and successful. With no touring to support the release, it makes sense for Loathe to attempt to prolong this prosperity by releasing new music as soon as possible. It’s just a shame they didn’t bother crafting anything worth listening to. Sure, unlike the band’s 2020 record, no one can accuse
The Things They Believe of being incohesive or sounding like Deftones, but at what cost? While there is reason for this record to exist, there is no reason for it to be this
boring and definitely no reason for anyone to listen to it. But hey, one year from now Loathe might release a bland, 40-minute long return-to-form EP which will be hailed as music’s second coming. Who knows.
