Failure: Wild Type Droid

My feelings on post-reunion Failure are complicated. I’m thrilled they’re back together and I’ve liked a lot of the songs they’ve written (‘A.M. Amnesia’, ‘The Focus’, ‘Otherwhere’,  and ‘Solar Eyes’ rival their best from any era), but compared to their earlier efforts, the albums have sounded increasingly less cohesive and less like the Failure I was so obsessed with back in the 90’s. 2018’s In The Future Your Body Will Be The Furthest Thing From Your Mind felt like an uncomfortable compromise between band members who each brought near-finished ideas to the table and then loosely connected them with leftovers and segues. 

In an excellent interview with Allen Epley earlier this year, Ken Andrews described how the creative process for Wild Type Droid was a little different than previous releases, with more collaborative, jam-oriented sessions generating much of the album’s content. Would this be the shot in the arm the band needed to all get on the same page, or a doomed effort to fight off the law of diminishing returns?

Wild Type Droid takes its time answering that question, opening with ‘Water With Hands’, a solid if somewhat typical modern Failure song (meaning it sounds like early Autolux with a dash of Ken Andrews' solo polish). It’s a good song, but it probably won’t convince anyone that the band is getting back to their roots in any sense. ‘Headstand’ continues that trend right up until the last third where it gets super heavy, super dreamy, and super good. This is followed by a Slint-esque digression in ‘A Lifetime of Joy’ that’s a bit of a head-scratcher at first, but becomes a real treat on subsequent listens as it staggers into the next track, ‘Submarines’, where the album really starts to take shape. It’s not quite like anything Failure have done before, with a borderline prog-metal riff that wouldn’t be totally out of place on an Ihsahn track. But in between that stomping riff, the verses and pre-chorus are surprisingly Magnified-esque, undergirded by a dirty, downtuned bass line that sounds just right.

From here, the album only gets better, as the band moves from strength to strength, building up a moody atmosphere with a degree of focus that's been missing since Fantastic Planet. Greg Edwards has said this album represents the band abandoning their space themes and finally returning to earth. That may be true thematically, but Failure sounds more confidently “space rock” here than they have in decades. 

There are so many highlights on Wild Type Droid that each listen reveals a new “favorite song”. ‘Bring Back the Sound’ impresses with its stark, haunting beauty. ‘Mercury Mouth’ has the hookiest chorus on the album. ‘Undecided’ is downright gorgeous and feels like a downbeat epilogue to ‘Solaris’ (try them one after the other—it’s not bad). Then there’s the stunning, Cure-worshiping ‘Long Division’, a song affecting enough to make a grown man cry before a single word is sung. ‘Half Moon’ is the perfect album-closer, with Greg’s lead vocals drawing things to a dreamy close and practically demanding you hit that play button again.

If I have a complaint about the album, it’s that I wish I enjoyed the first third of it as much as I do the rest of it. Then again, there is something admirable about the track sequencing. Wild Type Droid's slow, stuttering start makes a certain conceptual sense when consuming it as a whole (as one absolutely must do). It’s like the guys are taking their time, doing the pre-flight checklist and revving up the engines before lifting off and unveiling the considerable and often surprising charms to be found along the journey they have planned.

More than anything, I love how this trio sounds like Failure again without ever repeating themselves or pandering to fans. Wild Type Droid isn’t a retread or sequel to any other Failure album, but it does summon the same kind of emotions so many fans felt when listening to Comfort, Magnified, and Fantastic Planet. Each of those albums had a voice of their own, and Wild Type Droid is no different in that regard. It really is a new Failure classic.