The Armed THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED
The Armed's THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED arrives like a provocation: jagged, theatrical and combustible, a record critics call both thrilling and willfully unsubtle. Across six professional reviews the album earned a 79.17/100 consensus score, and reviewers consistently point to moments of transcendent fury that make the record worth the ride. Fast, abrasive opener “Well Made Play” repeatedly surfaces as a highlight, alongside the paranoia-tinged “Heathen” and the fuzz-drenched anthem “Purity Drag”; “I Steal What I Want” and “Kingbreaker” also emerge among the best songs on the album.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Well Made Play
5 mentions
"licks of saxophone courtesy of Patrick Shiroishi ("King Breaker", "Heathen", "Well Made Play")"— The Line of Best Fit
I Steal What I Want
4 mentions
""I Steal What I Want" has a Queens of the Stone Age shadow to it"— The Line of Best Fit
Purity Drag
5 mentions
""Purity Drag"'s chorus hoists the crux of the present day best:"— The Line of Best Fit
licks of saxophone courtesy of Patrick Shiroishi ("King Breaker", "Heathen", "Well Made Play")
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Well Made Play
Purity Drag
Kingbreaker
Grace Obscure
Broken Mirror
Sharp Teeth
I Steal What I Want
Local Millionaire
Gave Up
Heathen
A More Perfect Design
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 7 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
The Armed sound at once mischievous and exhausted on THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED, with the best tracks delivering jolts of transcendent rage and hooky melody. The opener “Well Made Play” and the melodic highpoint “I Steal What I Want” stand out, the former for its blistering guitars and precise cacophony, the latter for catchy verses and speedy choruses that linger. Mid-album cuts like “Broken Mirror” and “Heathen” show theatrical ambition, even as the record feels scattered and occasionally self-parodic. Overall, listeners asking "best songs on THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED" will find the album’s peaks thrilling, if not tightly unified.
Key Points
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“I Steal What I Want” is the album’s melodic highpoint due to its catchy verses and speedy choruses.
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The album’s core strengths are its moments of transcendent rage, textured experimentation, and memorable hooks despite a scattered cohesion.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Armed's THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED lands like a shove to the sternum, its best songs - “Purity Drag” and “Kingbreaker” - turning internet-era rot into furiously catchy outrage. Andy Crump's voice here is blunt and mordant, praising the joyful abandon of “Purity Drag” and the fuzzed-up rage of “Kingbreaker” as high points that give the record its urgency. He also points to “I Steal What I Want” and “A More Perfect Design” as tracks that sharpen the album's critique of online life, making them among the best tracks on the record. The overall impression is one of necessary bluntness - the album does exactly what it says on the tin and refuses subtlety when the moment demands outrage.
Key Points
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“Purity Drag” is the best song for its joyful-abandon vocals and emblematic chorus critiquing influencer abnegation.
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The album’s core strength is its blunt, furious articulation of digital alienation and political outrage.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Armed arrive on THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED with a record that is furious and oddly melodic, where the best songs - “Well Made Play” and “Heathen” - crystallise the album's ambition. Jeremy Allen's voice revels in muscular theatrics, praising the combative opener “Well Made Play” as a ringing town-crier and celebrating “Heathen” for its euphoric dreampop drift before pulverising post-rock. He also highlights pop-horror triumphs like “Local Millionaire” and the buried hooks of “Broken Mirror”, arguing the trio of tracks show how accessible melody is buried in noise. The review reads as admiration tempered with sharp-eyed critique, positioning these songs as the best tracks on the album because they balance intent, menace and unexpected tenderness.
Key Points
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The best song is “Well Made Play” for its commanding, combative opening that sets the album’s tone.
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The album’s core strengths are its blend of noise and melody and its incisive social critique delivered with theatrical intensity.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Armed face down the apocalypse with a full-throttle surge on THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED, and the best songs - like “A More Perfect Design”, “Kingbreaker”, and “Sharp Teeth” - are where that righteous anger lands with real force. Alex Robert Ross writes with pithy, urgent admiration, praising the album when it embraces first-thought fury and crushing sonics rather than didactic sermonizing. The record is at its most thrilling when Wolski’s screeches and Cara Drolshagen’s vulnerable lines collide, which is why tracks such as “A More Perfect Design” and “Sharp Teeth” stand out as the best songs on the album. Even when the band stumbles into caricature on songs like “Broken Mirror”, the muscular breakdowns and moments of genuine grief keep the momentum alive.
Key Points
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The best song is "A More Perfect Design" because it channels the album’s full-throttle, righteous fury with memorable shouted lines.
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The album’s core strengths are visceral intensity, feral vocals, and moments of real emotional vulnerability amid aggressive noise.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Armed return with an amalgamation of pummelling noise and pointed social barbs on THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED, where the best songs - “Purity Drag” and “Heathen” - deliver the album's clearest statements. Loftin revels in the record's shock and awe, describing how “Purity Drag” hoists the crux of the present and how “Heathen” is the calm before the brutal finale storm. The reviewer's tone is exultant and precise, praising the blend of savagery and elevation that makes these tracks standouts. This is presented as the band's most resounding and impactful work to date, a fierce culmination of everything they've learned and unleashed.
Key Points
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The best song, "Purity Drag", crystallises the album's critique with a potent chorus and direct lyrical thrust.
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The album's core strengths are its blend of crushing hardcore, experimental sonics, and pointed social commentary.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Armed arrive on THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED with a thrillingly unsubtle blast, and Sam Law keys in on the best tracks as evidence. Opener “Well Made Play” is praised as 133 seconds of feral howling and excoriating guitars, while “Kingbreaker” is highlighted for tumbling into dissonant experimentalism with Meghan O’Neil adding extra anguish. “Purity Drag” gets called out for burying punk swagger under layers of distortion, making these songs the best tracks on the album because they crystallise its faster, fouler intent. The review frames these moments as the record's core victories, where politics and noise fuse into purposeful fury.
Key Points
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The best song, "Well Made Play", is the album's concentrated burst of feral energy and abrasive instrumentation.
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The album's core strength is fusing political urgency with faster, fouler, glitchy sonic assaults.