The internet’s favorite musical wizards, Polyphia, are back with their latest attempt at both inspiring and killing the dreams of every bedroom musician with their fourth studio album, Remember You Will Die. After slowly but surely taking the musical world by storm with their debut album, Muse, released in 2014, the band reached astronomical levels of attention upon the release of their 2018 release New Levels New Devils.
It doesn’t take long for RYWD’s opening track, Genesis Ft Brasstracks (a two-piece R&B-Hip-Hop production team) to set up the tone, with great blends of ridiculous instrumentals and great, catchy beats. Playing God follows along bringing elements of classical guitar to the perfected songwriting style that Polyphia has become known for. From the first couple of tracks, it’s very easy to see exactly why Polyphia are as loved as they are, and as listeners move throughout the album that doesn’t change, be it from the utterly mind-blowing drumming in The Audacity, the amazing basslines that fill the air perfectly in Reverie to the constant guitar wizardry throughout All Falls Apart and Neurotica.
Where RYWD truly stands out though is within the vast range of collaborations across the album that all shape completely different sounds and add a genuinely great seasoning to the excellent musicianship. Be it the ridiculously catchy ABC Ft Sophia Black that hasn’t left my head since the single first dropped, Memento Mori Ft Killstation, a track that blends Experimental Prog instrumentals with Emo Rap verses and beats. Fuck Around and Find Out fully leans into the rap influence with an amazing feature from American rapper $not and Chimera Ft Lil West is one of the album’s heavier tracks as well as having another great feature from an up-and-coming rapper. The two features that truly caught my attention though were saved till the end. The first is Bloodbath Ft Chino Moreno, which not only has a massive Deftones feel thanks to the vocal performance but fully leans into the heaviness that Polyphia’s older fans will know and love. The final track and feature is Ego Death Ft Steve Vai, a man who truly needs no introduction, and has helped forge potentially the best track the band has ever written.
Now, I’m not going to say that Remember You Will Die is for everyone. It is more Polyphia and I don’t think this album will get you to become a fan if you weren’t already, but to anyone open to trying new things and fans of the band’s past work, this album is utterly mind-blowing. From the level of musicianship across every single second of the runtime to the surprising catchiness, I cannot recommend this album enough. Polyphia truly is the current generation’s guitar hero.
Review: Dan Stapleton
Remember That You Will Die, out October 28 via Rise Records
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