LEAVING THE WORLD BEHIND

Coming off of their unexpected lawsuit with renowned hip-hop duo Outkast, ATLiens release their debut album. You know, because that's what you do after nearly getting sued.

All things considered, "LEAVING THE WORLD BEHIND" is a pretty serviceable record. Though it lacks most of the narrative the cover art might promise, ATLiens' production is solid. Opting for a more minimal, empty style, ATLiens' take on brostep in their debut album is surprisingly melody-focused, and a lot of the cuts here are enjoyable in their own right, whether it's the melodic "FINDING SILENCE" or the DnB heater of "SINKING". Unforunately, whilst it plays to their strengths in some parts, it also becomes quite the hindrance. ATLiens lean quite commercial and safe with their dubstep — and even their genre switchups — and yet the entire thing sounds completely tonally lost. Whilst the vocals are quite stolidly commercial-oriented (and I will say that I do enjoy quite a few of the vocal features here), the drops are caught in a strange point of limbo between commercial and underground, ranging from slightly uncertain to completely directionless. Many of the tracks sound extremely diluted, and many others sound straight up empty. It's almost impressive how ATLiens' production can, at points, sound overblown, empty, and lost, all at once. Stylistic choice can only go so far, and at some point a project needs to sound stylistically consistent, but ATLiens' apparent inability to choose which way they want their debut project to lean serves to be the downfall of "LEAVING THE WORLD BEHIND". And the decision to include transitions is a nice touch, sure, but also utterly bizarre — in an album of confused tonality, no clear intention, and an abject lack of cohesiveness, ATLiens took the extra step to add transitions between tracks? I appreciate the effort, I really do, but it makes no sense to me. 

Don't let the bulk of the review fool you, though, because there are genuinely some nice tracks here. The production isn't horrendous, though it's not technically great either, and the lack of extremity also means that nothing really sounds absolutely awful with this project — and yeah, I am still a sucker for transitions, even if they make no sense, and even if the record sounds like the same idea every song. "LEAVING THE WORLD BEHIND" is, as I said, still a serviceable enough record, it just achieves literally nothing.