Home Read Albums Of The Week: Garbage | No Gods No Masters

Albums Of The Week: Garbage | No Gods No Masters

Shirley Manson & co. fight the power on their invigorated, pointed seventh album.

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This is our seventh record, the significant numerology of which affected the DNA of its content: the seven virtues, the seven sorrows, and the seven deadly sins,” says Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson of the band’s ferocious album No Gods No Masters, with its twists and turns from capitalism and lust to loss and grief. “It was our way of trying to make sense of how fucking nuts the world is and the astounding chaos we find ourselves in. It’s the record we felt that we had to make at this time.”

Produced by Garbage and long-time collaborator Billy Bush, the seeds for No Gods No Masters were planted in summer 2018 in the desert in Palm Springs. The quartet convened at a home belonging to one of Steve Marker’s relatives and sketched out the skeleton of the album over two weeks, jamming, experimenting and feeling the songs out. They then took those demos and went their separate ways, before reconvening in Los Angeles to finish the record.

Speaking about the No Gods No Masters single, Manson says: “I tried to make sense of the world. I was trying to make sense of left and right, literally. Like why do some people vote right? Why do some people vote left? And all of that comes from a concern for ourselves, for our friends, for our families, ultimately, for our babies … this song is about re-imagining our society for the future, for our children and not making the same mistakes over and over again and allowing greed to corrupt our thinking.”