Is there another band recording today that so deftly walks the tightrope of simultaneously not giving a fuck and giving their all than Titus Andronicus? The New Jersey band’s anthemic, sprawling punk rock has always had a sense of impassioned nihilism about it, with lyrics laden with references to philosophy, art, and history and intensely personal songs filled with naked emotion.
It should come as no surprise, then, that The Most Lamentable Tragedy, the band’s upcoming album, is a return to the outsize ambition of 2010’s The Monitor, surpassing even that album’s ridiculous scope. And now the entire 93-minute long magnum opus—a 29-track rock opera concerning a depressed man meeting his opposite-personality doppelgänger—is streaming right now over on NPR Music. We suggest carving out the space and time to give the album the close attention it requires. If you’re not ready to jump headlong into the work, you can get a taste by watching the video for “Fatal Flaw” below.