Over the past few months the space rock giant Failure has released three EP's which focus on the concept of humanity's relationship with technology and humanity's interaction with drug use. Some of their previous albums such as The Heart Is a Monster (2015) and Fantastic Planet (1996) individually focused on these ideas, however it is a first for the band to split these ideas up and arrange them into three separate concept EP's entitled In the Future, Your Body Will Be, and The Furthest Thing. Although these EP's were released a few months apart from each other, one can see their organizational pattern through the numbered "Segue" tracks. These songs are utilized by creating a specific atmosphere for the listener in order for them to connect with the mood that the band conveys. This technique is not new to the group and has appeared numerous times throughout their last two albums, however I had not expected for them to return due to the separation of these pieces of music.
The first two EPs In the Future and Your Body Will Be immediately grabbed my attention because of the way the band introduced the first track of each EP. They used a booming bass guitar fused with soft spoken lyrics to grab the listeners attention and for them to focus on what the singer was saying. Afterwards a distorted electric guitar would screech and the song would move into the chorus. "Dark Speed" and "No One Left" both use ideas of being high on narcotics and the euphoria that the user experiences will on them. The lyrics in "Dark Speed", "Trapped inside a room with no air to breathe" represent the idea that when someone is off of those drugs, they are still held and trapped by them. Other songs off these EP's that stuck out to me were "Pennies" and "Solar Eyes". These tracks offered new ideas of how anything can be turned into a weapon and recognizing addiction among users.
The third EP The Furthest Thing had great potential because of the structure of the previous two EP's, however I feel like it fell short due to how many filler tracks were on it. The only song that appealed to me was the first "Found a Way" because of how catchy the chorus was. "I've finally found a way, to release you" is an example of how the chorus included ideas of escaping something you're addicted to, whether it be an addiction to cellphones and technology or hardcore drugs. I was also disappointed with the "Segue" track on this EP because I felt that it wasn't as "spacey" and did not convey a feeling or mood as much as "Segue 10" and "Segue 11" had.
In the next upcoming months Failure is expected to release a fourth EP as a continuation of these ideas, and also a full album. I am hopeful that the full album they release is full of new music, however I would not be surprised if the full album is a combination of all four EP's. I would purchase these EP's and the new album on vinyl because I want to complete my discography of the band, although if I were a new listener to them I wouldn't think twice about purchasing their new music. This is because Failure had reached their peak in the 90's with the release of the albums Magnified and Fantastic Planet, whereas their new material is sub-par compared to them. Collectively these three EP's received a rating of a six out of 10 due to the band reusing the same sound that was present in their last album The Heart Is a Monster, and also because of the incomplete EP collection as of today. I am hopeful that EP number four maintains the same ideas that were present in the first three, and that their new album will present a whole new sound of Failure.
