If it’s possible for a band to produce a mainstream sounding album that’s still as nutty as a pack of KP’s finest salted variety, then this is it. ‘In The Unlikely Event’ has such a big sound to it you’d be mistaken for thinking this had a massive budget and would be destined for radio stations everywhere. Except it won’t be because TFOT are batshit crazy and fucking brilliant in equal measures.
I’d managed to skip the band’s output for a years years and the last record I heard was ‘Doppelganger’. But this is several steps up. The musicianship is fantastic, the song structure are brilliant, the vocals heavier and more melodic…it’s just a great all-round album with lots of great songs in between. The flow is so much better. I remember the band being very difficult to stomach in longer sittings, but that’s now been erased as the album flows brilliantly, mixing up the pace to full effect. And this even happens in some songs, such as ‘Nobody’s Perfect’.
There are something interesting themes on this record too. There’s a feeling of loss, a feeling that sometimes you need to get rid of people from your life before being able to move on. And there’s also a feeling of panic. The psychotic ‘Panic Attack’ and ‘People and their Lives’ are both heavy, but have this underlying melodic edge which works brilliantly. Overall you have a fantastic album that has a collection of brilliant, unique individual songs that, when combined, come together nicely.