Review: Foals – Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2

Less original than its predecessor, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 works best when rocking hard.

We last heard from Foals in early March when they released their fifth album, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1. This mouthful of a release showed Foals taking a bold step into electronica, ranging from the spacey “Moonlight” to the dance-adjacent “In Degrees” to the instant classic “Exits.” Most importantly, the title suggested there would be a sequel, and Part 1 was good enough to make you excited for how Part 2 would sound.

If Part 1 was an exploration of Foals’ more electronic and technical side, then Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 acts as a foil to show off their raw and forceful rock side.

Foals have never been one to shy away from getting heavy, from early single “Mathletics” to the title track of 2015’s What Went Down. Even Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 had the fiery “White Onions.” What distinguishes Part 2 from these releases is both the density and intensity of its hard-rockin’ songs. For starters, the album’s first single Black Bull handily takes the title of “most aggressive Foals song” from “What Went Down.” It’s pure fury from start to finish, and you can almost imagine singer Yannis Philippakkis’s getting red in the face as he shouts almost all the lyrics. Sure, he rhymes “future” with “kombucha,” but it’s hard to focus on (or even discern) the lyrics when the track is so strenuous.

Although nothing else on Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 comes close to “Black Bull” in terms of ferocity, there’s plenty heaviness to go around elsewhere. “Wash Off” carries a sense of tension in its quick tempo, and this only intensifies as it progresses into a chaotic and gripping outro. “The Runner” kicks off the album in earnest (after the brief, dramatic overture “Red Desert”), and its punchy riffs let you know right off the bat that this is going to be a different, harsher beast than Part 1. However, said riffs do bear a pretty uncanny resemblance to the Black Keys (especially “Shine a Little Light” from “Let’s Rock”), as does the fuzziness and bluesy feel of “Like Lightning.” They’re still enjoyable tracks, contemporary comparisons aside, and help establish the album’s gritty tone. Having all of these songs in a row with minimal breathing room between them makes it a unique part of Foals’ discography, and even though the band has done heavy before, they’ve never done it like on Part 2. Just when you start getting into the more headbanging nature of Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2, the album loses most of its mojo. In contrast to the kinetic, swagger-filled first half of the album, its second half brings back the steadier, more contemplative Foals we’ve grown to know over their last few releases. Sure, “Dreaming Of” still has enough power chords to give it rock cred, and the guitars on the chorus of “10,000” feet are borderline metal, but their tone is markedly softer than anything that’s come before. Each is milder and more ballad-like than the next until you reach “Into the Surf,” whose piano chords and chime-like synthesizer notes couldn’t be more of an about-face from “Black Bull.” This song is built around the melody of the interlude “Surf Pt. 1” from the last album, which is a pleasantly surprising tie-in, but its gentle notes and the natural imagery in its lyrics would have fit in better on Holy Fire or What Went Down.  It’s become a bit of a cliché to use words like “anthemic” and “stadium rock” to describe the sound of Foals lately, but tracks like these aren’t really proving the case otherwise.

Fortunately, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 ends on a high note with “Neptune,” a ten-plus minute epic that serves as the grandest of finales. It’s unique within Foals’ catalogue not just for its sheer length – their longest track to date by far – but also because it really does keep your attention as it meanders. It starts as a fairly bread-and-butter rock number, then becomes Foals doing their best post-rock a’ la Mogwai impression for several minutes, all before the vocals and opening melody come back to send us off. It’s vivacious enough to pair well with the first half of the album, and it’s hard to think of a better way to close the saga of Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost.

Back when Foals announced Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 in January, they confirmed the diptych nature of the dual release by stating: “The albums which will be coming out are two halves of the same locket. They can be listened to and appreciated individually, but fundamentally, they are companion pieces.” That said, aside from the aforementioned “Surf Pt. 1” melody and the general bleak feel to both parts’ lyrics, it’s not exactly easy to hear the connections between them, and you’ll probably fall into the “listened to and appreciated individually” camp. Of the two, Part 1 feels like the more original and consistent release, since the band had never incorporated electronic elements so boldly before. “Foals going hard rock” is a tougher sell for Part 2, not just because your mileage may vary on how much you like heavy Foals (recall that Pitchfork called What Went Down’s louder bits “knuckle-dragging”), but also because the band were already rocking out at least once per album. Instead, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 finds its appeal with its vigorous first half and monumental closer, making it one of the most potent indie rock releases to come out this year.

Rating: 7/10