Doggerel, the eighth studio album from alt-rock legends the Pixies, is an exploration of a darker sound, which doesn’t lend itself to an interesting or fun listen.

Why is it that legendary artists continue to make music long after their heyday? One would hope it is because they love making music, or they enjoy the process of creating an album.

Most likely, though, it is because they want a quick cash grab from loyal fans or they have contractual obligations with record labels. Just look at some of the biggest metal bands: Metallica has made six albums after the 1991 self-titled, and Megadeth has made more than 10 albums since their golden age in the ’80s.

None of those records were good.

Doggerel is the fourth Pixies LP since 1991’s Trompe le Monde – the last above-average Pixies album. I hope that they had fun making this album, because I sure didn’t have fun listening to it.

The record lacks all of the energy that made Doolittle so much fun to listen to, and it lacks the musical sophistication that made Surfer Rosa such an interesting listen.

A song like “Haunted House” feels like an attempt to reclaim the success that the band found on some of their earlier projects. However, the vocals on this track are simply too grating to listen to multiple times. 

Lead singer Black Francis’ candid vocals work well when the music sounds more raw, and the energy of the songs is more important — like in their old work. They work less when it sounds like he is trying to sing well on a produced song – like this new album.

“Dregs of the Wine” is a showcase of the new gloomy sound that the band is trying to achieve, but it simply isn’t sonically interesting enough to warrant more than one listen. The different style seems half-baked and half-hearted.

The only song worth a listen might be the opener, “Nomatterday.” The track executes a dark bassline well, along with a relatively raw sound that allows Francis’ singing to sound somewhat decent. The track isn’t amazing, but it’s not terrible by any means.

Doggerel as a whole, however, is simply not worth listening to. The time one would spend listening to the LP would be better spent listening to a classic PIxies album.