Protomartyr — Formal Growth In The Desert — Album Review
Alternative | Rock | Post-Punk
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Protomartyr is a Detroit-based post-punk band which I discovered back in 2020, with the release of their fifth studio album, Ultimate Success Today. And if you were following back in the time that we called lockdown, you may remember that this very album very swiftly rose to become my favourite album of that entire musical year.
There was just something so atmospheric that the band brought to the table with their accessible (yet also quite unique) sound. Pair that with a marvellous instrumental fusion, a strong thematic sense throughout the project, and just the sheer level of both enjoyment and engagement that I got out of that album in the summer of 2020, and it might not be hard to see why I deemed Ultimate Success Today as such a masterpiece.
With all of that said, my hopes were set incredibly high for whatever Protomartyr brought to the table next. As it turns out, the year in which we would finally get a brand new Protomartyr record would in fact be the one we are in right at this very moment. 2023 would mark the release of the band’s sixth studio album, which has been give the name of Formal Growth In The Desert.
I managed to catch two of the three teaser tracks that heralded the arrival of Formal Growth In The Desert, those being “Make Way” and “Elimination Dances”. I will say that both of these tracks presented a more gritty and somber undertone than the likes of the tracks on Ultimate Success Today, and for that, I believe these teasers succeeded in what they came to do.
However, the one thing I began to notice, as I ventured into the full album, is that Formal Growth In The Desert feels markedly more shallow than its preceding counterpart by a sonic comparison, with the biggest stab in the gut being the lack of brass instrumentation, which I felt really gave the band’s 2020 album that unique edge.
This album feels much more like a slimming down of the bands sound, presenting the project in a far more accessible light. And though this has its own reasons for being a good thing, I just felt that I was way less bewitched by the bands sound this time around.
But with all of the negative criticism out of the way, it has to be said that there is still a good chunk of moments on Formal Growth In The Desert which carried a similar sense of atmosphere and intrigue that made me fall in love with Protomartyr in the first place, not to mention that there is still a great balance of energetic and stripped-back moods.
In conclusion, while I still firmly stand by my preference towards the album that came before it, Formal Growth In the Desert shows at least a decent amount of how artistic Protomartyr can be.
Favourite Tracks: Make Way | For Tomorrow | Polacrilex Kid
Least Favourite Track: Fulfilment Center
Domino Recording Co
