Foals
Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 2

THE REVIEW

As promised, the Foals, six months after releasing the first part of the "Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost" project, have released the second part.

However, beware: this is not a double album, but rather two distinct albums composed of tracks developed in the same writing session. This difference is not as subtle as it seems, considering we are talking about two profoundly different records. The first part, described by frontman Yannis Philippakis as the sound of an "individual observing the end of the world from a skyscraper," was an update of the band's various sonic facets, making its stylistic variety its strength.

With this second part, however, we thematically arrive at the reaction of what the individual saw from that skyscraper, and the music aligns with those sensations, pivoting towards a solid stadium rock sound, at times very raw and dynamic.

"Part II" is indeed a very guitar-heavy album, reconnecting with the previous "What Went Down," and the single "Black Bull" (with its furious and powerful garage rock) had foreshadowed this return to more arena rock band sounds. With a Mercury Prize nomination for the first part of the work and a headliner slot at the Glastonbury festival, the Foals choose a more direct and immediate language to definitively break through and establish themselves in the eyes of critics and the public.

The calm is allowed in very few episodes of the work: in the rarefied opener "Red Desert," in the piano interlude "Ikaria," and in the psychedelic "10,000 Ft." "Wash Off" is a straight indie rock track reminiscent of the well-loved "Holy Fire," "Like Lightning" plays with blues elements, winking at Jack White (from the Raconteurs side).

The best tracks come with the other two extracted singles: the first, "The Runner," brings the best riff of the album and highlights it by immersing it in a vaguely shoegaze cloud, while "Into The Surf" (developed starting from "Surf Pt. 1" of the previous album) lays its foundations on an ethereal and enveloping piano. The trophy for the best work on the album, however, goes to the closing track "Neptune," ten amazing minutes between soft prog fascinations and sudden sonic explosions.

The Foals thus complete the "Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost" project in the best possible way.

Best track: Neptune