REINESSA

Motionless in White are back. There are three singles, a new album, and their biggest headlining tour of their career. “Back” does feel a little wrong to say—their last few years have seen them playing at WrestleMania XL, having a featured song in Fortnite, and multiple tours that included an incredible arena run with Bring Me the Horizon. All that aside, those were all MiW showing up in someone else’s arena—now they have their own. 

(I cannot believe I have to say this as I am writing it, but you can pry emdashes out of my cold dead hands. I refuse to stop using them just because people think that all emdashes mean AI). 

The Sweat and Blood tour is the culmination of every dream the guys have ever had for their production, showing up in an impressive, immersive, larger-than-life experience. I don’t really want to tell you about their tour though, just buy a ticket and go, it’s worth it, I promise. Instead, this is really about Decades and how much their live set confirmed my suspicions about the new album. 

Motionless in White’s Decades Is What We Needed, Even if We Didn’t Know It

I don’t believe in being coy—some people haven’t had the same first reaction to Decades that they did to Scoring the End of the World. Motionless’ newest album is a pretty big departure, on the surface, from their previous work. People aren’t always super receptive to that, and I’d be lying if I didn’t raise my eyebrows at my first listen to a few of the songs. But then I used my brain for a few seconds and remembered their early keyboard player (Josh Balz) who doesn’t tour anymore, how excited they were to have a bop like Werewolf, and their synthwave version of “Voices.” Keyboard, synth, and “dancier” vibes aren’t exactly new. The rapping in “Fight Like Hell” isn’t even new. This album is Motionless, through and through, and the more I listened, the more I found what I needed in it. 

I love Motionless because they have this beautiful balance between introspective emotional songs, ruthless commentary on the world around us, and the goofiest moments that embody who they are on the day to day. With the state of the world right now, I turn to them for that scathing commentary—but after seeing their incredible nineteen-song setlist at their show, I think they knew what I needed better than I did. 

Decades picks up where STEOTW left off. It isn’t meant to just be another onslaught of rage against the end of the world. It’s hope, it’s community, it’s the power we have to look up from our phones and “take back tomorrow before there’s nothing left to save.” And yes, it’s also the band having fun making more bops like “Werewolf” and exploring different ways to be creative. (Inject “Blood Rave” straight into my veins please). 

The Sweat and Blood Setlist Put It All Together

I’ve been to see Motionless in White at least nine times—and one of those times I booked them for my own event, so I have seen so many iterations of their tour. This one blew everything else out of the water. Nineteen songs. Over ninety minutes that spanned righteous rage against a hypocritical world, fan favorites brought back to life, silly moments of necrophilia, and heart-wrenching emotional journeys. 

The show opens with “Sign of Life,” “a song about finding hope in the darkest of times” before launching into “Playing God,” their latest ripper with a searing indictment against outrage culture and internet toxicity. “Meltdown” (and all the pyro) shows up next with environmental disaster, societal collapse, and apocalyptic times ringing out across the amphitheater. ”Voices” turns inward—which if you don’t know, ends with the Progress Pride flag across the video wall. 

My personal favorite surprise of the set was next with “A-M-E-R-I-C-A”—a song I never expected to see live, and the song of theirs I return to… the most often. Mix in “Hollow Points”, “Thoughts & Prayers”, “Slaughterhouse”, then eventually “Rats” and you realize that Motionless are saying everything they always have with their music. The anger didn’t get toned down on Decades. It already exists across twenty years of music, and they brought all of it with them.

The main set closes with “Scoring the End of the World,” a song built around hope and the power of collective action. Then they return with their classic dedication to the fans, promising themselves as “Eternally Yours.” Together, those songs make it much easier to understand where Decades fits into their story. “Playing God” and “log_in//crash_out” bring in the rage. “Afraid of the Dark” gives us courage. “Count Back From Zero” asks us to do something with it. This album is less interested in listing the damage again and more interested in asking what comes next. Are we going to keep staring into the outrage machine, or are we going to look up, find each other, and take back whatever future is still available to us?

I am also aware that I am assigning all of this deep meaning to a group of people who appeared to be having the absolute time of their lives up on that stage. The show opened with a giant spinning cat. “I Wear My Sunglasses at Night” became the most committed 1980s fever dream imaginable. During “Dead as Fuck 2,” Chris checked his own pulse, discovered he still had one, and shook his finger at the crowd: “’Cause if she’s got a pulse, then she’s not my type.” There were beach balls and Halloween candy and flamethrowers and burning bibles. 

This is the album, and tour, of a band that has spent twenty years surviving, growing, and finally having the freedom to do exactly what they want. They did all of that work. I just scream along in the crowd and occasionally cry on Instagram. The achievement is theirs, but standing in that arena, it was difficult not to feel some small, irrational contribution to the moment. 

Maybe that is the heart of Decades: the world is still fucked, but none of us are standing in it alone.

In very not short at all—go see the tour and listen to the album. Thanks for reading.