Failure
The Heart Is a Monster
INRESIDENCE
6/10
If it seems like every ’90s alt-rock act is reforming at the moment, well, that’s because most of them are. Failure is the latest to do so—putting aside personal differences and getting back in the studio for the first time in more than eighteen years. Which, presumably explains why this fourth full-length sounds very much like 1996, whether it’s through the unapologetic grunge of “Hot Traveler” or the spacey, schmaltzy, piano-tinged ballad of “Mulholland Dr.” “I Can See Houses” is by far the record’s best moment—a brooding swell of unhinged emotion that’s as creepy as it is insistent, building up from almost Waitsian-oddness into a hypnotic groove of pure paranoia—but that sonic height can’t be matched by the rest of the album. While the other eleven songs (in addition, there are also six short instrumental segues here) are valiant attempts and pretty good offerings, whether the album validates Failure’s decision to get back in the ring is up to you to decide.
