REVIEW: The Residents – ‘Doctor Dark’

Few bands have remained as elusive and consistently avant-garde as The Residents. Since their emergence in the 1970s, they have defied convention, shifting through genres and sonic experiments with an almost anarchic sense of creativity. Now with ‘Doctor Dark’, the legendary collective returns with a labyrinthine, genre-defying odyssey that refuses to be neatly categorised.

Billed as “a modern opera sculpted from real-world horror and existential dread, a collision of heavy metal, classical orchestration, and the avant-garde abyss” ‘Doctor Dark’ stands as one of their most ambitious undertakings yet. Across sixteen tracks, the album builds a sprawling, immersive soundscape, shape-shifting from one musical idea to the next without a moment’s hesitation. The Residents thrive on unpredictability, and here they lean into that strength, weaving together disparate elements that pull from experimental rock, surrealist storytelling, and theatrical performance.

Rather than adhering to a singular sonic blueprint, ‘Doctor Dark’ revels in its chaotic nature, embracing dissonance, tension, and moments of eerie beauty in equal measure. Where some artists might stumble under such sprawling ambition, The Residents turn disorder into a strength, crafting an experience that is hypnotic, confounding, and utterly compelling.

Continuing their decades-long tradition of fearless creativity, The Residents ensure that no one can predict where they’ll go next, only that the journey will be like nothing else.