Hotel Kalifornia
is the eighth long-player from Los Angeles rap-rock stalwarts
Hollywood Undead
and the first since 2020's ambitious two-parter
New Empire, Vols. 1
and
2
. Like those albums,
finds the quintet alternating between teeth-rattling nu-metal breakdowns, soaring melodic choruses, and nimble raps fueled by a mix of aggro swagger and the horror-chaos themes that are their bread and butter. Formed in the mid-2000s, the formerly hockey-masked crew have a long history of genre-loading their songs, and over the years they've become quite good at assembling quick-cut tracks that stylistically turn on a dime while still hanging together. They also have a knack for melodic hooks and provide enough here ("Ruin My Life," "Lion Eyes") to satisfy the album's duration. It's not a game changer likely to earn the band legions of new fans, but it's certainly on par with the quality of their latter-day releases. ~ Timothy Monger