When I was a kid, I had this PlayStation game called “Sled Storm” which was a hyper-stylized snowmobile racing game. On of the races was this multi-level track that would wind through a demented, slightly surreal, nighttime circus world. Lots of misfiring pyrotechnics, evil clown obstacles, and some sort of race announcer yelling through speakers suspended around the track. This album reminds me of that experience. Much like I do for baroque pop, I locked the fuck in when the opening song started out with a demented circus style loop and a raspy, belty lead singer. Total personal bias, these things just always grab my attention. But I think if you’re willing to wait out the slow first half of the opening song, almost any listener will be super engaged with how the track transforms into a crazy, noisy collage. I think my highlight on here is “Longue Route” for how much is sells out with the loudness and noise, a couple cool airy sound effects, and a very good loop at the first half of the song. But honestly it’s hard to pick out one favorite, as this one of this albums best qualities is how well all of its pieces work together - songs different enough to stand out from the others, but all very cohesive in creating a very specific ambiance. I’d love to see what the production and recording process was like for this record. There’s such a unique mix of looped instrumentation and samples, almost all with some reverb or post-processing effects added to make it all sound like it came from the same centralized recording location. Lastly, this album leaves me wondering about a few things. Would I have enjoyed this as much as I do now if this were one of the first albums we had on this list, or if I listened to this at a much younger age? Maybe, but probably not as much. This does require some active listening ears. Did the language barrier help or hurt here? I don’t think it hurt, but I’m not sure it helped either. Am I giving out too many 4’s lately? Also maybe, probably. I don’t intend on listening to this record ever again, at least for leisure. But I really did get a lot out of this album. I have a tremendous amount of respect for this album, for using instrumentation we are all familiar with in a completely unique way. The Young Gods interpretation of how to make music, and their composition/production process, all deserves a 4/5.