foals: total life forever

Foals’ debut Antidotes was my 8th favourite album back in 2008, so as expected, I was pretty eager to hear Total Life Forever, the band’s follow-up/sophomore album. Thankfully, it lives up to my expectations; in fact, it is a more superior album in every aspect! The album is moodier with that familiar mellow and rhythm driven math rock sound—it is ultimately a more stylish version of Antidotes. In spite of this, it did take me more than a few listens to get into Total Life Forever while I was hooked on Antidotes pretty much right from the get-go.

Several differences, or improvements include the epic momentum build ups/crescendos in songs like "Blue Blood", "Black Gold", "Spanish Sahara", and "2 Trees"—each one starts with a gentle beginning, then more layers are slowly added as the song progresses until it transforms into a grand multi-layers conclusion—this format does not get exhausting; in fact, Foals managed to keep each one interesting and exceptionally breathtaking! Perhaps the biggest change in Total Life Forever is Yannis Philippakis’ vocal style. In Antidotes, rather than singing, Philippakis' vocal is mostly choppy, almost shouting like (which was a perfect fit to the shifting meter and tempo throughout Antidotes). However, he actually sings on the new album, and what a fine attempt— his vocal is smooth, calming and even elegant in a few occasions. If you read most of this post, I don’t have to tell you how much I am enjoying Total Life Forever. It is simply a great album... chillingly epic and absolutely fantastic all at once!





visit Foals' MySpace here
buy Total Life Forever here