March 20th, 2023 | By: Emily Bates

This was an album that was highly anticipated by me. I’m an avid Hozier listener and have been since high-school. This new EP comes three years after his last album release. Hozier is known to not release anything less than perfection.

This album was highly thoughtful and planned out by Hozier, down to the allusions to Dante’s Inferno. This album itself seems to focus a lot on the ideas of sin and indulgence which makes sense because of Hozier’s history of going against the catholic church’s beliefs.

Hozier himself said that “Eat Your Young” is a reference to the third circle of hell, gluttony while All Things Pass refers to the sixth circle heresy.

The song Eat Your Young itself has a very sultry and kind of wicked feel to it, heavy on drums and Hozier’s voice is a higher range than it is in other songs. Of course it’s extremely catchy and melodically beautiful. I don’t know of another artist who can combine the idea of hellish gluttony and the poor being ravished by the famine in Ireland in such a profound way.

All Things End is much softer and has a more smooth jazz feel. And the addition of the choir behind him is such a cool addition. It makes you feel like you’re at church which I’m sure was very purposeful on his part. Considering that this song is connected to the 6th circle of hell, my thought is that it in the Bible it talks about everlasting life, so Hozier using the line “All things End” or a permanent end makes him a heretic. Just my own thought.

The intro to Through Me (the flood) sounds like he’s underwater which is such a cool addition. This song is much more upbeat and has a more eerie sound to it. This song I think has more to do with Metamorphosis by Ovid rather than solely Dante’s Inferno. Particularly with the lyrics, “Would flow through the world, and it flows through me.” Hozier is very found of deeply poetic lyrics that can have more than one meaning. It really seems that with this song, the vocalist is trying to find themselves and where they fit in the world, which is such a relatable problem to every modern day person.

As expected, these songs were beautifully written and I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album. Hozier himself said that it has 17 or 18 songs which is such an exciting prospect.