Less than a year after the project's debut,
Moby & the Void Pacific Choir return with a follow-up,
More Fast Songs About the Apocalypse. The aptly titled sequel to 2016's These Systems Are Failing is another abrasive collection of hardcore and post-punk ravers that should please fans of
Moby's one-off solo punk experiment, 1996's
Animal Rights. The spirits of major
Moby influences like
Agnostic Front and
Mission of Burma can be heard throughout
Apocalypse, from the manic pounding of "Trust" and the unrelenting anxiety of "If Only a Correction of All We've Been" to the rhythmic drone of "A Softer War" and the digital mayhem of "All the Hurts We Made." There's even a semi-industrial/EBM-lite bend to the album -- think
Trent Reznor gone pop -- that adds buzz and grit to his drum loops and wounded vocals. Much of the album bleeds together and tends to sound the same -- the persistent throbbing is the heartbeat that keeps
Apocalypse going -- but at a swift nine songs, it manages to be an appropriate dose of angst and frustration that taps into the producer's pissed off, social activist side. The shadow of the 2016 United States presidential election looms large over the project. The outspoken artist's anger and exhaustion is palpable, so even songs about simple heartbreak and loss come packed with a gravitas borne of wider issues (the desperate "There's Nothing Wrong with the World There's Something Wrong with Me" is a fine example). On "In This Cold Place,"
Moby sings, "I'm tired/of feeling like it's prison without walls/And I'm tired of feeling so alone and nothing more." Whether his fatigue is the result of a failed connection or the futility felt in uncertain times, the sentiment will be painfully familiar to anyone who's ever thrown their hands up in resignation to the fates. Those in search of another "Porcelain" or "Bodyrock" might want to look elsewhere:
Apocalypse is a refreshing change of pace, a frantically urgent statement that taps into the visceral with a welcome blast of noise from a voice that still has much to say. ~ Neil Z. Yeung