Released: 2013

Genres: Neo-Psychedelia, Experimental Rock, Space Rock Revival, Drone

The Musiquarium’s The Terror Review Score: 8 out of 10

Following in the footsteps of the band’s 2009 album Embryonic, The Terror sees The Flaming Lips continuing down a path of musical and lyrical darkness, while also indulging in the experimental electronics of the previous year’s collaboration album, The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends.

You won’t find the bright-eyed optimism of anything from The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots or At War With the Mystics on here. Instead, you will feel like you just took too much acid alone in an unfamiliar place, and are being confronted by the horrors of your own isolation. But, there is beauty in the fear that Wayne Coyne and the band are sonically projecting onto you.

Where Embryonic was still laced with guitars, The Terror is more electronically-driven, allowing the band to drone with hypnotic synths, most evident on the 13 minute-long You Lust. While nothing here resembles anything commercial like The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song or She Don’t Use Jelly, there are still plenty of memorable moments and interesting motifs throughout.

Look… The Sun Is Rising is what it must feel like to be trapped inside a psychedelic factory, where every mechanical noise is a different musical note. Try to Explain is like the sunlight shining through the slits of the curtains, barely reaching your eyes, but providing just enough light to keep you hanging on for just a little while longer. Always There… In Our Hearts ends the album with a schism of corrosive music and hopeful lyrics.

The Terror is a stoned and trippy album that will transport you into a distant world and depress you for an hour.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view The Flaming Lips on Discogs.

Back to the 2013 Album Guide or the The Flaming Lips Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard