Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 - Foals: Review
are a British indie rock band who began releasing material about a decade ago and got off to a pretty hot start, receiving tons of critical acclaim for their 2010 sophomore record Total Life Forever. The band dropped the first of this two part series of records earlier this year to moderate acclaim and have followed it up with part two here.
Review By Lavender:
I will link my review of the first record in this duo from earlier in the year here and at the end of the review if you'd like to read it. In the intro to that review I mentioned my enjoyment of records like Total Life Forever and the groups most recent album at the time What Went Down. Everything Part 1 turned out to be a solid record but the sound was just a little bit generic for me and it felt like Foals was just playing it by the numbers for a sound they had already thoroughly explored, and on Part 2 the well of creativity is even more shallow as some of my worst fears about the band releasing two records in one year were confirmed.
Some of the singles in the lead up to this record even made it seem like they would push for a little bit of a harder sound this time around, starting with Black Bull which features shouted lead vocals tossing out kooky slant rhymes. The instrumental breakdown on the hook features a slick lead guitar riff that is pretty cool and one of the harder hitting tracks here. The Runner was the second single which featured yet another exciting lead vocal performance with call and response changes in volume. The hook could use a little bit of something to make it stand out more but I think overall this is also one of the better tunes on the record.
Unfortunately the third single predicted what my biggest issue with this record would ultimately be, it is boring and Foals has done all of this better before. Not that Into The Surf is a bad song, it's a decently sweet moment that pops up at the tail end of the record and has a catchy refrain or two. It's mostly that so little of the track stands out as special or unique in the world of indie rock or even in the world of Foals music. I could apply this to a number of the remaining songs as well, Wash Off has it unique moment in the form of a driving surf rock guitar riff but aside from that there isn't much else here to help it stand out. Like Lightning may be the worst example of this all as there are more kind of generic vocals and by the numbers riffs all over this thing that I can just do without.
Dreaming Of is one of the quieter and dreamier tracks here that does what Into The Surf tries to do but better with bouncy guitars and more imaginative songwriting it kind of relishes in its mellowness. 10,000 Feet is an excellent explosive track with a smooth as hell bass riff and some consistently catchy vocal passages that stands out as just a genuinely good song on the record. Neptune is the huge 10 minute closing track to the record and I have to admit I like it more than I thought I would going into it. For the first half it has a typical but solid sound that fits in well with the rest of the record but from there is breaks down into a loose and stark guitar jam that I really enjoy before circling back into its original refrain as sharply as ever and makes for an explosive and thrilling ending.
Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 is a decent record in isolation and it is fair to say that sitting down to listen to this thing won't result in any migraines, and I have a feeling indie rock fans will find a number of tracks they like here. The issue is that a lot of the deeper cuts here are just making poor attempts at recreating the sound that Foals have been executing on this records singles and on Part 1 of this record series. While it is a fine listen while on I see Part 2 as being even more irrelevant in the grander indie rock world than Part 1. 6/10
