It was a very long wait between albums from Skrillex from 2014’s Recess to this album. The only real output, aside from singles, that he had during this time was the Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü 2015 release which itself was a one-off collaboration effort between those two artists. Skrillex obviously had some deep issues in his life to deal with in the meantime. Still, the wait is over and here is, at last, a full-length album release by Skrillex. This is a two-part 2023 release series of new material, this being the first release. The albums are very different to one another musically, yet still, both received good reviews and are much needed. This is the more upbeat and mainstream sounding release from Skrillex. Still, is it worth hearing? Let’s find out.

Leave Me Like This features Bobby Raps. It begins with some pitch-shifted and autotuned vocals that sound excellent. It quickly changes completely into an upbeat, House music styled groove that is actually quite good. Skrillex shows the world of music that he can still make some interesting and amazing tunes after Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites and Bangarang, which were early hit tracks of his. This launches into an Acid/Techno style tune that is really amazing and massive sounding. A great piece of music to hear, this is a House and Club oriented banger which is completely different to anything Skrillex has done before, and also very different from the other album release he has given us this year. It returns to Dubstep territory in the second half of the track, sounding fresh and danceable. There are indeed some very clever sounds abound that sound really good. It quickly ends after three minutes and is a great start to this album.

RATATA features Missy Elliot and Mr. Oizo, surely a strange coincidence of names and artists. It begins with some tripped-out cyber melodies and some absolutely must hear vocals. In fact, the combination of rapid-fire Rap vocals from the guests is amongst some of the best vocals you will hear today in music. A tripped-out and powerful piece of music that is absolutely worth it, Missy Elliot makes this track come alive here and she sounds like a lady on fire. A brilliant piece of digital editing and music, this is absolutely worth your time. 100% worth it, and great for repeat listens.

Tears features Joker and Sleepnet. It has some awesome looped robotic vocals, before “Listen!” sampled from Navi in the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time arrives. Soon enough, this launches into a rather minimal and subdued tune that is gritty and mechanical sounding. This is another good tune full of unusual sounds and samples. Seems that Skrillex really got his musical mojo back here after such a long time, and he has created a banging album full of wonderful tunes here. The intricacies and interesting sounds are not to be underestimated here. This is a Techno/Acid piece that is really awesome to listen to and is similar to NuBreed or The Crystal Method. An excellent listen regardless, it is very Techno in its musical similarities. It has a strange transition to an electric outro. Cool.

Rumble is a hit single featuring Fred again… and Flowdan. It begins with a bunch of IDM clicks, launching into some sped-up vocals and fluttering textures. This launches into a good piece of mainstream Rap music that works very well. An awesome and lively listening experience, this is a great taste of the album at hand. A very good listen, and one of the defining tunes from 2023. A great pastiche of rapping and IDM-style Electronic music, this does sound awesome and amazing. There are some sirens, gun clicks and vocals that are cut up. Nonetheless, this is a winner. It works. Great tune. A repeated looped vocal concludes this listening experience, and this is a fine two-and-a-half-minute tune. Nice one.

Butterflies features Starrah and Four Tet. It begins with some amazing digitized vocals that are heavily delayed, followed by some good beats and textures, and some song based lyrical female vocals. This sounds fast-paced, futuristic and audibly delicious. A really euphoric and excellent tune that sounds heavily Psychedelic, Electronic and influenced by all strands of EDM. A really awesome tune to listen to and enjoy, this does sound very original, even in Skrillex’s musical context. A pleasant and different listening experience, 2023 has brought us the future of music with releases such as these. A great piece, complete with chiming xylophone styled sounds. Really cool and quirky, this is an adventurous piece of music at hand. Brilliant in its own way, Skrillex has created a brilliant album chock full of monster tunes and beats. This ends quickly after three minutes in length.

Inhale Exhale features Aluna and Kito. It is a Prodigy reference to their song Breathe. In any case, this is a strange sounding tune with a great number of sounds and samples throughout. It quickly launches into a Dubstep styled tune that sounds really cool. This is more minimal than what has come before, but it works wonderfully throughout. A really sensationally cool and artistic EDM tune, this is fairly simple and old school as well. A really awesome tune, this draws on the past of Electronic music to create something new and amazing. With a repeated vocal sample stating one is way too high, this is clearly EDM to take drugs to. Nonetheless, this is a wonderful and joyful listen throughout. Very Ambient in its own way, the music here is excellent and quite different. Nice work guys. The outro is stunning.

A Street I Know features Eli Keszler. It begins with some cool cut-up and heavily autotuned and pitch-shifted vocals that are extremely saturated. A really awesome and cool tune that eventually has beats kicking along, this is a great piece of Electro House that is laidback and very futuristic sounding. An amazing listening experience that sounds really cool, there are intricate and awesome beats and other wonderful melodies that sound fantastic on this tune. Really awesome tune to kick back and smoke a cig or joint to (if you like that sort of thing), this is excellent. A really great piece of music that isn’t a million miles away from some Trance Music out there, this does sound fantastic to hear. It is a great example of futuristic bliss that is being created in today’s music. A really fine listen, Skrillex has nailed creative, intelligent and awesome EDM that is borderline IDM. It ends with a sample of laughter in the background. Nice work.

XENA features Nai Barghouti. It begins with some Indian styled chanting and lyrics, which is highly unusual for this kind of music. It quickly launches into a pseudo-Indian traditional music based tune. Understandably, this is best for those who appreciate Indian culture and music, which limits the appeal of this tune to outsiders in some respects. Still, this did not stop George Harrison from exploring such musical concepts in the past. A really great piece with some awesome and tonally unusual percussion, this is a real winner, despite the fact that this is obviously aimed at Indian music fans, and not really anyone else. If Skrillex wants to make a great crossover tune (and he has done so in the past as well), this is a great example of that. A really wonderful and enjoyable listening experience, this tune is proof of the rising South Asian giant’s influence in more ways than one. Handclaps and a great breakdown are in the second half before this tune continues on with some excellent 4/4 beats. A really intricate and excellent listening experience, this does have some genuinely great vocal samples and other sweet touches throughout. Skrillex nails a new form of Indian music. It ends with some traditional Indian chanting, before wrapping up. Excellent.

TOO BIZARRE (juked) features Swae Lee, Siiickbrain and Posij. It begins with laughter, some repeated vocals stating, “Let’s bust down” and some excellently placed cut-up beats. A really interesting and great listen from the start, this is a great piece of music that is very Poppy for this album. Ideal for a DJ set of sorts, possibly in Ibiza, this changes into a catchy and fairly House music sounding piece with some excellent retro Acid House/Techno sounds. This does sound extremely awesome and impressive. There are some screamed vocal samples in the second half of the tune, before this sounds like a Happy Hardcore sort of tune. A really cool listening experience. Excellent piece of music.

Hydrate features Flowdan, BEAM and PEEKABOO. It sounds terrible from the start, with some totally rubbish autotuned vocals that are not really needed here. It eventually launches into a piece of music that is a Rap tune that sounds okay, although this is not the most memorable nor consistent piece of music out there. In any case, it does sound ideal for clubbers out there. There are some Rastafarian styled vocals present here in the second half, before this tune returns to the chorus. A really unusual sort of piece of music, it is good, even if it is not great. The annoying vocals from the intro return in the outro, which are terrible. A flawed tune.

Warped Tour ’05 with pete WENTZ is less than a minute long and makes very little sense musically to have on this album. It is a sample of an interview with Skrillex, with some rather naff music being played along with it. It’s okay, but not great.

Good Space features Starrah. It begins as a pseudo-Classical music piece, with vocals quickly entering from Starrah. Again, this is a bit too autotuned to be enjoyed, at least vocally. This is a terrible tune, although it only runs for just over two minutes in length. A really weird piece of music by Skrillex, this is definitely a poorer cut with some try-hard beats, terrible lyrics and sound plain awful sounds. In other words, this is a failure. Skrillex easily should have scrapped this mediocrity. Skip it yourself, this is not worth hearing.

Supersonic (my existence) is a collaborative effort between Skrillex and Noisia, josh pan and Dylan Brady. It begins with some rather tranquil sounds before the vocals enter. Unfortunately, the song title isn’t original, despite the fact the music is. In any case, this is a better effort, that is until the beats and murky dirty textures kick in. This is not an enjoyable listen, it seems that further along in the album, Skrillex loses his consistency and innovation as a Dubstep and EDM pioneer. The vocals here are very much like Thom Yorke from Radiohead. Soon enough, this launches into a monster Dubstep section in the second half, and an outro follows that is IDM-like and quirky.

Hazel Theme is a solo Skrillex composition, which sounds like a cut-up montage of Electronic and has sounds that are extremely individualistic and clever. A really cool listen, this is a nice break from some of the more mediocre tunes on the second half of this album. Skrillex is making the music of the future that we always dreamed of in the past. A really interesting piece of music that has a huge amount of sound effects and editing here, this is decent. It segues into the next track.

Still Here (with the ones that I came with) is the last track on this album and features Porter Robinson and Bibi Bourelly. It is a fantastic breakbeat styled piece with the vocals from the piece beforehand and is the longest piece on this album. For that length though, this tune is a good conclusion to a very innovative and interesting album, and this is no different as a piece on it in that respect in comparison to the other tracks. A perfect piece of music to showcase Skrillex to your mates or others, this does have a lot of futuristic sounds, delicious beats and other cut-up vocal takes that, quite frankly are really brilliant. There is a really cool breakdown near the middle, followed by a vocal sample, obviously best useful for live performances by Skrillex. The beats re-enter after this, and the song title is chanted away. Excellent music, this does sound really fantastic and danceable. Most of the songs on this album are not danceable, but this one really is. A cool piece of music by Skrillex, it is a great sonic adventure through the unlimited scope of audio. It has a lengthy outro with no beats, just vocals and wind chimes. Excellent work Skrill. There is some gorgeous piano to conclude, nice work.

This album is a very enjoyable listening experience from start to finish. It is a very, very good album to listen to, and whilst it isn’t the best Skrillex release ever, it is enjoyable enough to wrap your ears around it. A much more focused and artistic release from a guy who began making professional tunes many years ago, Skrillex will no doubt continue to make good records that are of high artistic value. Should you listen to this album? Yes, especially if you like post-Dubstep music or anything similar. This is a very nice release indeed.

Extremely satisfying EDM.

7/10