“Quest for Fire” by Skrillex
Skrillex’s newest is much less strange than his earlier works but does not lose the high-energy songs that listeners crave.
By Tate Schloesser
After nearly eight years away from the electronic dance music scene Skrillex has dropped a pair of albums, “Quest for Fire” and “Don’t Get Too Close,” ushering in a new stylistic form that deviates from the defining dubstep genre which sent ripples through the DJ circuit that are still reverberating to this day. The Grammy award-winning producer, who broke out onto the scene with powerful and energetic tracks such as “Bangarang” and “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” has created an entirely new sound that has redefined his discography.
In “Quest for Fire,” Skrillex synthesizes the stripped-back UK garage style of electronic music and hard-hitting drum’n’bass. A star-studded cast of producers and singers like Fred again…, Four Tet, Porter Robinson, Missy Eliot, and Flowdan feature on the album, who add a new dimension to each song they appear on.
“Leave Me Like This” starts the album off with multiple build-ups, drops, and beat switch-ups that perfectly reflect Skrillex’s stylistic changes. With a feature from Bobby Raps, this song will certainly be one of the hallmark tracks of gym and party playlists. “Rumble,” featuring Flowdan and Fred again… fuses a stripped-back drum set with techno synthesizers and Flowdan’s tough lyrics, creating a transatlantic, high-energy club banger. “Butterflies” and “RATATA” are also high-energy, but the rhythm of both of these tunes instantly makes you want to move your body to the music.
If you are one of the many listeners who were put off by the earlier techno music, which can best be described as strange robot noises, that made Skrillex famous nearly a decade ago, then I urge you to give this album a listen. It is much less strange than his earlier works but does not lose the high-energy songs that listeners crave.