Florence + The Machine released its sixth album, “Everybody Scream,” and it does not disappoint. The album has multiple producers, including lead vocalist Florence Welch herself. The album features artists and bands, like Mitski and FAME’s studio orchestra. The album includes 12 new songs, with a runtime of 49 minutes.
Florence + The Machine, known for metaphorical lyrics and addictive melodies, offers another layer of storytelling in “Everybody Scream.” Referencing witchcraft, Greek mythology and the occult, the band offers a new, blunt take on womanhood. The album, released on Halloween, is a perfect mix of gothic, gorgeous and reflective.
The album starts with its title track, “Everybody Scream.” Listeners are immediately thrown into a choral opening and end the song with lyrics touching on witchcraft.
“Here, I don’t have to quiet / Here, I don’t have to be kind / Extraordinary and normal, all at the same time,” Welch sings.
The powerful message of these lyrics is heard throughout the entire album.
Following is “One of the Greats,” which continues with witchy and fantastical lyricism.
“Arms outstretched, back from the dead / Streetlights burstin’ overhead,” Welch sings when referring to an unnamed character who had brought her back from the dead.
Although the song sounds like horror, with a closer listen fans can hear the criticism of the music industry and its misogyny, particularly through the ending lyrics.
“You’ll bury me again, you’ll say it’s all pretend / That I could never be great bein’ held up against such male tastes,” Welch sings.
Welch mixes anger with satirical, sarcastic elements to portray her thoughts on not only this industry but this world itself.
In “Witch Dance,” listeners begin to really hear Welch’s view on womanhood. She sings about keeping beauty forever. Through Welch’s storytelling, the beauty and meaning she’s looking for are found in this group. These women are never directly named or described. It is as if Welch is taking us on a journey through the past and her history.
Welch circles back to the industry with “Kraken.” The track in itself refers to the Scandinavian myth, and she sings that she is turning into a kraken.
“All of my peers, they had such potential / The swamp, it took them down,” Welch sings.
The lyrics, along with a reference to changing into another “thing” in “Perfume and Milk,” touch on Welch’s struggles between conforming to the norm or taking her own path in her music.
In “You Can Have It All,” Welch paints an abstract picture of muliebrity.
“I used to know what sadness was / I was wrong / A piece of flesh, a million pounds / Am I a woman now?” Welch sings.
These lyrics are less brutal and more filled with desperation and yearning, the search for what it really means to be a woman. Welch also sings about nature itself, which pushes her connection to the Earth even further.
On the band’s YouTube channel, there are multiple lyric videos and visualizers for the album. There is also a music video for “Everybody Scream” and “Sympathy Magic.”
The band is touring in 2026, starting in Europe, going through the U.S. and ending in Edinburgh in August. The tour has openers like Rachel Chinouriri and Sofia Isella. Tickets for the U.S. shows go on sale to the public Nov. 5.
Overall rating: 8/10
