Garbage – Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig – return with their seventh studio album, No Gods No Masters. Produced by Garbage and long-time collaborator Billy Bush, the seeds for No Gods No Masters were planted in summer 2018 in the desert in Palm Springs. The quartet convened at a home belonging to one of Marker’s relatives and sketched out the skeleton of the album over two weeks, jamming, experimenting and feeling the songs out. They then took those demos and went their separate ways, before reconvening in Los Angeles to finish the record.

“This is our seventh record, the significant numerology of which affected the DNA of its content,” says Manson. “The seven virtues. The seven sorrows and the seven deadly sins. It was our way of trying to make sense of how fucking nuts the world is and the astounding chaos we find ourselves in. It’s the record we felt that we had to make at this time.”

Lead single “The Men Who Rule the World” is an incendiary indictment and call to arms, a typically powerful sonic display that sets the tone for the searing new record. A critique of the rise of capitalist short-sightedness, racism, sexism and misogyny across the world, the track is a forceful protest song and a clear statement of intent from a band who still believe in the power of dissent.