Garbage No Gods No Masters

Since the early 2000s, every Garbage release has felt like a minor comeback. Starting with their 2005 LP Bleed Like Me, the electronic rockers' output has been infrequent yet familiar—always experimenting with all sorts of new studio tricks while adding something new to the discourse. No Gods No Masters, their seventh in 25 years, is unquestionably one of their most overtly political. And though frontwoman Shirley Manson has always been one to unleash her pent-up rage, the world is finally catching up with her. Themes of police brutality, corrupt capitalism, and misogyny, among others, are laid bare in these fine-toothed industrial tracks, as Manson and her cohorts consider the fraught state of our political and social affairs. The questions they pose are never easy, if a little on the nose sometimes, but the soundtrack that supports them moves with kinetic abandon even in its steadier moments. Considering the vast number of ideas they put forth here, they're still finding new ways to engage with their signature formula after all these years—easily one of their most robust since 2008's Version 2.0.