UK alternative rock band Florence + The Machine continued to showcase its diverse array of talents with the release of its sixth studio album, “Everybody Scream,” on Oct. 31. It is an album that is an incredible display of the band’s talent in its production, lyrics and emotional themes that it performs in a span of 49 minutes.
The band’s last studio album was “Dance Fever” and was released in 2022. Florence Welch, the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the band, discussed the title of the album in an interview with L’Officiel and how it relates to the emotions that she felt when going through the stages of grief from a miscarriage in 2023.
“The fury that I felt didn’t translate into something sad, you know?” Welch said. “I really needed that energy. I needed to scream because when it happens to you, you are silent. You can’t scream.”
Welch does not try to hide any of her feelings throughout the album, having the album put the viewer through the same progression of emotions through her lyrics and sound.
The album’s opening track, aptly named “Everybody Scream,” is an explosive start to the release. Its instrumentation is very similar to previous albums, such as “Dance Fever,” including a mix of orchestral and rock instruments played in tandem with each other that blends well with Welch’s intense vocals. As the song progresses, a female choir backs up Welch’s vocals in a haunting progression, creating an ethereal feeling as it comes to a close.
The rest of the tracks on the record bounce between the opening songs’ energetic, chaotic feeling and the slower, intimate ballads such as “One of the Greats,” the track that follows up “Everybody Scream.” Florence + The Machine has always had this balance, including this duality in its debut album, “Lungs,” but “Everybody Scream” takes it in a much more powerful, raw direction — much to its benefit.
Each song flows seamlessly into each other, using similar chords and verses that repeat between songs to tell a story that feels like an intimate folktale that Welch is telling to the listener.
Some particular standouts that follow this structure are “Witch Dance,” “Kraken” and “The Old Religion.” All three of these songs are incredible displays of instrumentation and lyricism, with Welch’s lyrics telling a harrowing story of loss and feminine rage. The band uses bass guitar and soft piano bouncing off of each other that follow the similar balance of anger and grief that she is sharing with the listener.
The jump between tones and emotions can feel jarring, especially near the middle of the album between the songs “Sympathy Magic” and “Drink Deep,” but that does not mean that it takes away from the listening experience of the record. There are enough throughlines between each song where it feels as if Florence + The Machine is taking the listener on the same journey of emotions that she went through during her health crisis following her miscarriage.
Welch discussed the deep nature of the album compared to previous releases.
“This is the most personal album I’ve ever made, but it’s also my most mythological in a sense,” Welch said. “I wanted to create my own folk horror songs within it. I’ve always done that with my personal struggles. I always turn to the mystical or the metaphorical.”
While the album’s repetition works to its benefit as a work of art, there are some songs that can feel similar to each other. “Buckle” and “Drink Deep” are lyrically great songs, yet they repeat the same slow, slightly distorted electric guitar for the runtime of each track and can sound a bit tedious to get through on repeat listens.
However, these slower, repetitive songs do not take any enjoyment out of the album because it has such a huge diversity in songs that having only two that sound similar is an achievement in itself. In actuality, it makes the more punk sounding songs at the beginning of the album stick out so much more.
One particular standout track was “Kraken,” due to how it begins with a very slow, emotional buildup towards a nuclear-level explosion of a climax where every aspect of the album comes together, with a distant choir following Welch’s powerful, bellowing vocals. It is exactly what the album is trying to achieve, and it will be a staple of Florence + The Machine’s incredible consistency in its discography through how it has changed and adapted over its 16 years as a band.
The album closes out on two songs that wrap up the record’s musical and thematic aspirations, with “You Can Have It All” being a much-needed, high-energy track that calls back to the first half of the album.
The final track, “And Love,” is different from all of the other songs in the record, having a lack of any guitar or any of the previous songs’ instrumentation. It instead uses harp and piano to create a song about, as the song name suggests, love and hope for the future.
Florence + The Machine’s “Everybody Scream” is an incredible achievement in music and art, and it proves the band’s ability to perfect their style that they have been growing ever since the band’s first album.
