The New Regime – COUP

To take over

That is the basic meaning of a coup and that is exactly what is happening with The New Regime on their new album. They are taking over the airwaves and overthrowing what was once believed to be popular music. This totalitarian project by Nine Inch Nails drummer Ilan Rubin is amazingly written and preformed.  The battle mystique put out by TNR on COUP is perfectly evident not only in the song titles but in the cover art as well. Picking up this album, you know what you are in for with the portrait of what seems to be someone dead after signing an important document. Graphic, but none the less effective. 

Coming in strong, “Order Restored” has a slightly creepy guitar opening, but when Ilan starts singing, there is a dark confidence, like everything is going to be alright. Lyrically, it’s what’s to be expected from a dark set album. The chorus has a catchy tune that gets under your skin and drives you wild. “Time Erase” is the epitome of eerie, with a haunting piano that is almost insane but beautiful, as all genius is. It starts off with a breath, than in storms the piano, chill-inducing singing, and a victorious closing that gives us hope and a great feeling of accomplishment.

The song comes to a close though the lyrics suggest otherwise, that maybe we are in the same danger, that “some things never change.” A war has been started, and what was once our music scene with redundant artists has been taken over, set ablaze with this raw talent. This may be another wolf in sheep’s clothing, but for now, a change is good. The New Regime is what all our little black hearts needed.