If you were looking for the most perfectly brooding autumnal album this year, Florence Welch and her Machine may have been one of the least likely places you would have expected. However, motivated by deeply personal tumult of the past few years, Welch and co return with an ominous, hauntingly beautiful sixth album, Everybody Scream.
Since their iconic, evergreen debut album in 2009, Welch’s voice has beckoned the Machine to be an everlasting presence across the airwaves and atop the charts ever since. Following their last album, 2022’s Dance Fever, Florence had an unexpected brush with death as she sadly suffered an ectopic pregnancy. That pain and grief is ever present here on Everybody Scream, from the immediate opening bars of the titular track to the soulful chords of “Perfume and Milk”.
Although a great sense of grief is charging the tones here, it is also a testament to Welch and co that it is not overbearing or oppressively dreary, in fact, it is often empowering and soaring. “The Old Religion” sits roughly halfway through, but is a welcome moment of anthemic sounds, ascending atop dramatic booming percussion. As has been shown time and time before, Welch never fails at capturing the sense of growing momentum and building to a cinematic close. “Drink Deep” is likewise another display of captivating majesty, percussion being used with precision to build suspense before giving way to layered, harmonised vocals at its conclusion.
Understandably, there is not a lot of time spent here in an uptempo feel. Instead, Everybody Scream is a sombre slow burn, shifting steadily through gradients rather than flicking excitedly through different styles. Unfortunately, it means that there is a lack of the punchiness that Machine can often do so well.
But at the same, this isn’t really the time for that from Florence. So, although it is lacking punch to do a degree, that’s replaced this time around with a knowing decision to face into the solemn tone. If you’re looking for an upbeat bop, Everybody Scream isn’t that; it’s one to take time with and experience.
