With each release, Iceage seems to recalibrate. Sometimes it is subtle, other times more dramatic, For Love of Grace & the Hereafter is no different. Their sixth record leans lighter and more upbeat than anything they’ve put out recently, it’s almost joyful by their standards.

Recorded at Silence Studio in rural Sweden, the same house where they cut Plowing Into the Field of Love back in 2014. They’ve managed to keep a similar pace and rawness. But that urgency is found through minimal recordings. Embracing a more honest and direct style, often found without overdubs.

The typical Iceage signatures are all still present on For Love of Grace & the Hereafter. Elias Rønnenfelt‘s deadpan monologues remain one of the most reliable pleasures in post-punk. His dry, worn-in delivery sounds like he couldn’t care less, but adds a sharp veneer when paired with his writing. One of the best things they do on this record is drop out the music, leaving just Rønnenfelt’s voice. “Ember,” the opener, does this well: beginning in near-chaos before pulling back to a single acoustic guitar and the central line, “I love you in an ominous way,” characteristically delivered and striking a balance between calamity and reflection.

“The Weak” is an early standout, it leans hard into a surf-rock style that suits Rønnenfelt’s voice better than you’d expect. Getting rowdier as it goes with a freewheeling guitar, a stylistically sloppy flute solo, drums rolling out underneath. “Salve for Every Sore” works a similar trick from a different angle: horns and fast drums push forward until everything stops. Leaving just a muted staccato guitar solo before the song comes barreling back. These structural decisions build an album that feels alive with passion and fear and anxiety.

Then there’s “Star,” which is almost alarming in how unguarded it is. The melody reads as a straight-up love song. Combined with the hand-clapping accents, it’s certainly not something you’d have predicted from this band. Truthfully, it should not work for this band, yet somehow it does. Even the writing feels a bit immature for the band: “You’ve got me dying like a star,” Rønnenfelt sings, “centuries apart, sunlike in the battered sky.” Yet, somehow it’s an earworm that I feel burrowing into my head.

“Tender Blades” pulls the tempo back, a necessary pacing move; unfortunately, several of the songs that follow don’t quite distinguish themselves to the same degree as the first half did. Perhaps it requires a bit more of a deeper listen to feel the connection, but songs like “Lifetime” and “Holy Water” felt a bit forgettable.

For Love of Grace & the Hereafter is a confident record from a group who could care less about how their work is received. That’s why they continue to change up so much album to album. With this latest release, they step back a bit, though not a big step, from the post-punk style, and get a bit lighter. It will be fun to see how they decide to swap out styles for the next release.

Pre-order For Love of Grace & the Hereafter by Iceage HERE