2xLP BLACK VINYL WITH ETCHED D-SIDE

Billed as an embrace of chaos, pop chameleon Lady Gaga dispenses with a focused theme for her seventh mainline album, the aptly titled MAYHEM. There are no jazzy showtunes, Nashville dive bars, or cleansing club euphoria. Spiritually and sonically, MAYHEM returns Gaga to her roots, those early days when she truly let her freak flag fly. In that regard, this is a welcome gift. MAYHEM is not a retread, nor is it a retreat to a safe zone, it's an inventive resurrection of an edgy approach and outsider aesthetic that helped launch her into the pop annals as the premier star of her generation. Despite this embrace of a supposed unstructured approach, the album flows in a logical sonic manner, being front-loaded with highlights before easing into competent pop gems and ending with confident, vulnerable love songs. Gaga had mentioned that one of the album's influences was industrial music and, in particular, Nine Inch Nails. That inspiration is heard on the first half, starting with the pulsing rocker "Disease," the official first taste of the LG7 era. Then the listener is hit with "Abracadabra," hands down one of the best songs in Gaga's catalog. The wild throb, dancefloor urgency, and heavenly bridge are a primal thrill (as is the viral music video) and clear throwbacks to her Fame Monster/Born This Way peak. "Garden of Eden" mashes the early 2010s electroclash sound with a pure, melodic chorus, sounding like something that could have been on Christina Aguilera's underrated Bionic. As if her line about "nine-inch heels" didn't make her point, the digital squall in the outro cements the NIN-fluence, carrying into the dark "Perfect Celebrity," one of the album's many musings on Gaga's internal struggles. Here, the set injects some meaty funk into the mix, as heard on the squelching jam "Vanish Into You," which could have easily been on The Fame. Highlight "Killah," one of the collaborations with Gesaffelstein, struts like St. Vincent or Trent Reznor taking their own crack at Bowie and Prince. MAYHEM keeps it funky with the sparkling disco gem "Zombieboy" (named after the late dancer from her "Born This Way" music video) before shifting to effortless pop anthems ("LoveDrug" and "Shadow of a Man") and midtempo fare ("The Beast" and her engagement ode "Blade of Grass") on the back half. MAYHEM closes with the global smash "Die with a Smile," her simple but sublime duet with Bruno Mars that will prove to be one of Gaga's most timeless, classic tunes. While not as disorderly or tumultuous as the title suggests, MAYHEM is definitely untethered by genre rules. Beyond that, it's simply an embrace of freedom, which has allowed Gaga to simply do whatever she wanted without sticking to a rigid "vibe." That ultimately makes this a breath of fresh air in her catalog. It may not be an instant classic, but it's still clear that no one can do it like Gaga.

A1        Disease  3:50
A2        Abracadabra  3:45
A3        Garden Of Eden  4:00
A4        Perfect Celebrity  3:49
A5        Vanish Into You  4:06
B1        Killah  3:31
B2        Zombieboy  3:35
B3        Lovedrug  3:14
B4        How Bad Do U Want Me  3:59
B5        Don't Call Tonight  3:47
C1        Shadow Of A Man  3:21
C2        The Beast  3:56
C3        Blade Of Grass  4:18
C4        Die With A Smile  4:11