Manchester Orchestra stunned me with their 2017 release A Black Mile To The Surface, and I was entirely intrigued by their music. After putting it on repeat too many times and figuring out the story behind the album, I decided it was time to set it aside and taste another album. The Million Masks Of God was next on my list, since it was pretty highly commended in some critics' lists, and the artwork intrigued me too.
The Million Masks Of God keeps the same kind of alt-rock palette presented to us in A Black Mile To The Surface, but uses it a lot differently. The darker aesthetics that were designed to fit the darker themes of A Black Mile To The Surface were absent here, which resulted in a brighter tone throughout most of the album. Instead of a threaded narrative, The Million Masks Of God instead tackles multiple separate topics all loosely centred around struggling with the idea of god and trying to love someone through it, something that emerges from Andy's deep spiritual and religious self, and I think the genuineness speaks for itself in the music.
Manchester Orchestra has always been excellent at building captivating soundscapes, but The Million Masks Of God goes for a more diverse soundscape throughout the record, ranging from borderline indie bedroom pop to straight up gritty electronic alt-rock. From the brilliant harmonies of Inaudible and the grandeur of the epic-like Angel Of Death, to the softness of Telepath and the melancholy sentiments of The Internet, they're covering a very large range of sounds.
I'll admit, this album did not hit as much as A Black Mile To The Surface did, but I think it's less of a testament to the quality of this album and more of a testament to the quality of their music as a whole. A Black Mile To The Surface was such a powerful album that, even though The Million Masks Of God is by all standards an amazing album, can pale a bit in comparison to it. Regardless, The Million Masks Of God is chock full of bangers, great lines and melodies, and some really solid songwriting. Angel Of Death is one of their best standalone songs in both musicality and lyrical meanings, and Bed Head has the best vocal one-liner in their recent discography.
For the most part, I perceive The Million Masks Of God to be the softer album of the two, mostly due to how much calmer the second half of the tracklist is. Outside of that, I think it actually beats A Black Mile To The Surface in sonic diversity, no longer constrained to a overarching narrative. I love the parallels as well, the sonic familiarity with their first and last track seem almost intentional. Inaudible reminded me a lot of The Maze but bolder, and The Internet reminded me a lot of The Silence but calmer. While we're here, I should mention that having listened to The Million Masks Of God after The Valley Of Vision, hearing Rear View's callback in The Internet the wrong way around was surreal. I loved it.
They definitely feel like sister albums as this point, but I think it might just be the overall new sound of Manchester Orchestra that I love so much, spearheaded by the amazing vocals and lyrical prowess of Andy Hull, and supported by some of the best instrumentation in modern alt-rock. Even though I have to say that The Million Masks Of God doesn't top A Black Mile To The Surface, I can at least say that they're both very high on my lists.
Rating: 9/10