In 2011, electronic-rock band, AWOLNATION, released its debut album, Megalithic Symphony, which consists of the popular songs “Sail” and “Kill Your Heroes.” Nearly four years later, AWOLNATION released its sophomore album Run. Lead singer, Aaron Bruno, went solo on this new album with the help of Red Bull Records. While AWOLNATION fans have been anxiously waiting for a new album, the news of Run being released was dropped on Jan. 26 along with the first single of the album called “Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf).”

Many songs on Run, such as “Fat Face” and “Like People, Like Plastic” contain familiar sounds that were also used in AWOLNATION’s first album. For example, the end of “Like People, Like Plastic” sounds like a mix of “Swinging from the Castles” and “MF,” which are two of the eighteen tracks on the deluxe version of Megalithic Symphony. In the song “Fat Face,” the piano is the main instrument used and it is also played almost the same as “All I Need” while the ‘ooohs’ used in the song were identical to the ones used towards the middle of “Knights of Shame.”

While a lot of songs are similar to the older ones, Run is a more electronic album. In Megalithic Symphony, one can easily hear the guitar, piano, drums and bass. However, with Run, the piano, synthesizer and drums are dominant instruments while there is a minimal use of the guitar.

The first song off AWOLNATION’s new album, “Run,” starts off with outer space noises with a synthesizer and cowbell layers on top of the track. “Run” is one of the songs that contains little to no guitar usage. If one is looking for a song in which the guitar is the main instrument, then “Headrest for My Soul” is the best song to listen to. With a calm, relaxed vibe, “Headrest for My Soul” is played all on an acoustic guitar with an almost unnoticeable synthesizer note constantly playing in the background.

Although more songs are calmer on Run than on Megalithic Symphony, songs like “Jailbreak” and “Windows” contain an arena rock vibe that is a pleasure to listen to. Both songs have a strong drum beat and a catchy chorus. Bruno’s voice in these songs is also stronger and sounds like he is yelling, which gives the tunes more strength and a stronger rock music feel.

AWOLNATION’s second album, Run, is definitely worth waiting almost four years for. The overall album is not too different from Megalithic Symphony, but the two are not exactly identical. Bruno changed things up in Run by making it a lot more electronic and fun to listen to. AWOLNATION will continue to draw in more fans with this new album and most likely have another huge hit like “Sail.”