On June 17, Canadian electronic music producer, Deadmau5, released his first major album since his 2012 release, <Album Title Goes Here>. His new album, While(1<2), is a 25 track collection that features artists such as How to Destroy Angels, Nine Inch Nails, and Colleen D’Agostino. When this album is played end-to-end, it is about two hours and ten minutes long.

As a whole, the album is very well put together and flows very nicely from one song to the next. Sadly though, the reason why was fairly obvious. While listening to various parts of album, a lot of the songs sounded strikingly similar. Even though each had it’s own melody and for the most part every song was in a different key, each song had a similar form.

Every song was either very melodic with little or no rhythm elements, or very rhythm heavy with long melodic breaks every now and again. This could be viewed as both a good and a bad thing. It definitely helped unite the album and give it an overall “feel” so to speak, but it also may bore some listeners who were expecting another 4×4=12 or <Album Title Goes Here>. I must stress though, even though the songs sound similar, they do not by any means sound the same.

During the time I spent listening to While(1<2), I was shocked to see how much Deadmau5’s style had changed since <Album Title Goes Here> . Upon further reflection though, I was surprised at how much his new style resembled his songs from 2008-2009. This leads me to honestly believe that this album is one for everyone because it has a little bit of everything. There are slow songs, fast songs, songs that make you want to dance, and songs that make you want to got to sleep.

At the same time, it’s an album that manages to keep its roots in the artist’s older style while still being able to stand out as something completely new. At the end of the day, I give While(1<2) a ten out of ten.

While(1<2) is available for download on both iTunes and Beatport (with only four songs available for individual purchase) and at the time of posting, a three-piece vinyl set is available for pre-order through the Deadmau5 store.