Twenty years deep into their career, Motionless In White mark the milestone with their seventh studio album, Decades, and it plays like a victory lap. “We were never afraid to take risks,” Chris Motionless has said, and that ethos runs through every corner of the record, from genre-hopping detours to career-spanning collaborations.
The album opens with the title track, Chris snarling ‘I’m still fucking here, is that all you fucking got?’ right out the gate, a defiant declaration of intent. What follows is a wave of nostalgia, the band leaning hard into the raw aggression of Creatures and Infamous. Blast beats and blistering riffs pummel underneath, visceral and cathartic. It’s a clear reminder that the band haven’t lost their bite.
‘log_in//crash_out’ swerves into hyperpop and glitchcore, all stuttering digital textures and warped vocals, a jarring left turn that still feels at home here. Meanwhile, ‘R.I.P.’ (ft. Skylar Grey) swings the other way, a haunting ballad where Skylar’s guest vocals wrap tenderly around Chris’s own. Three tracks in, and Decades has shown that Motionless In White are still able to cover all bases.
Guest vocals return once more on ‘Playing God’, this time courtesy of Corey Taylor, with an intro that nods directly to Slipknot‘s ‘Eyeless’. There are callbacks too to ‘Soft’ and ‘Slaughterhouse’, weaving the band’s own back catalogue into the mix. Chris has described it as “An observational commentary on toxic internet culture and the people who perpetuate it,” and the track’s snarling intensity matches that disdain note for note.
‘Blood Rave’ (ft. Anthony Martinez) lives up to its name, heavy EDM elements pulsing throughout, conjuring the image of a vampire nightclub in full swing. Then ‘Love At First Bite’ descends into 80s territory, all fun pop-synths and reverb-drenched production, a fitting companion on an album that also features a cover of Corey Hart‘s ‘Sunglasses At Night’.
One of Decades‘ most compelling moments comes with ‘Afraid Of The Dark’, which feels like the whole band distilled into a single song. Beautiful, haunting, electronic and heavy all at once, its lyricism detailing the story of Motionless In White themselves. The track carries a clear theme of reclaiming control over one’s own destiny, a fitting summation of everything the band has fought through to get here.
Bonus cuts ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Fight Like Hell’ (ft. Outlier) round the record out. The former is a fun, upbeat blast of arena riffs and spooky synths, its pop culture references masking a nihilistic core. The latter closes things on punchy, catchy ground, very much the band’s current sound, and a confident note to end on.
Motionless In White are still taking the risks that got them here. Decades stands as proof the band has plenty of road left ahead, still evolving without losing sight of where they started.
