‘Another distraction, Carrot on a stick, Need for attention, Just a piece of meat, Get what they want, Take Everything, Automatic compulsion, Puppet on a string’ (Human Meme)

There is, perhaps, no more self-destructive notion than that of the attention economy.  Yes, it seeks to grab attention, but by fracturing the thought processes of those it seeks to lure.  Scroll.  Swipe.  Hours disappear in a fog of the inconsequential and soon forgotten.  The ability to concentrate and focus becomes ever more fragmented, it is easier to plunge back down the rabbit hole.

Portland’s Retirement return with their second full-length and follow-up to 2023’s Buyer’s Remorse.  The waves of abrasively distorted guitar create a darkly menacing atmosphere, the rhythm section cutting through with a satisfying punch as the band surge between nastily fast eruptions and malevolent mid-paced stomps.  The aural manifestation of our disintegrating minds that is vividly captured on the rhythmically punishing Blind and the spitefully ominous Suffer The Law.

Meanwhile, the just shy of blackened vocals deconstruct the surveillance capitalism that defines our lives on Human Meme and Sell Me Something.  They also tackle the false equivalencies, double-speak, and moral distortions that enable people to seemingly be comfortable justifying war crimes and military aggression on All Guilty and What We Deserve.  The album closes on the bleakly nihilistic Next Time – there is no hope for a society mired in exploitation and feeding greedily on isolation.