''Intruder'' is the nineteenth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English musician

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

, released on 21 May 2021 by BMG and

The End The End may refer to: Films * ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine * ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds * ''The End'' (1997 film), a Canadian film of 1997 * ''The End'' (1998 film), a skateboarding document ...

. It entered

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

at number two, on 28 May 2021.

Album concept

''Intruder'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

with an apocalyptic theme, and the point of view of an

anthropomorphised Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

Earth's anger towards its human inhabitants due to

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...

. “The planet sees us as its children now grown into callous selfishness, with a total disregard for its wellbeing, it feels betrayed, hurt, and ravaged. Disillusioned and heartbroken it is now fighting back." Numan explained in an interview. "Essentially, it considers humankind to be a virus attacking the planet. Climate change is the undeniable sign of the Earth saying enough is enough, and finally doing what it needs to do to get rid of us, and explaining why it feels it has to do it.” Numan stated that "The idea behind the album actually came from a poem called “Earth” that my youngest daughter Echo wrote. She wrote the poem about the planet being upset, and why it was upset''".'' The original poem is included inside the sleeve of the vinyl edition of the album.

Critical reception

''Intruder'' received an overall score of 77/100 from 8 reviews on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". One reviewer called ''Intruder'' "one of the finest albums of his career", NME describing the album as "fresh and ambitious" and "thrillingly relevant", and another citing it as one of Numan's "most interesting albums". '' Paste'' magazine said "the bracing new climate-change-conscious ''Intruder''—is sketching clear charcoal renderings of the charnel house that awaits us". Songwriter Universe said the album is "an ambitious, compelling collection of songs with a unifying theme". ''Riff Magazine'' said the album is "a science fiction soundtrack about the impending climate catastrophe that doesn't need a movie to get its urgent point across." A number of the reviewers noted that ''Intruder'' was a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to his previous album both musically (with a similar blending of

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

-heavy

Industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten a ...

with elements of

middle eastern music The various nations of the region include the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East, the Iranian traditions of Persia, the Jewish music of Israel and the diaspora, Armenian music, Kurdish music, Azeri Music, the varied traditions of Cypriot ...

, (the latter notably including contributions by Gorkem Sen playing the

Yaybahar The Yaybahar is an Acoustic music, acoustic musical instrument invented by the Turkish musician Gorkem Sen (Turkish: ''Görkem Şen''), who describes it as a "real-time acoustic string synthesizer." Etymology The name ''yaybahar (pronounced /j ...

)), and also by theme, which is a "complementary narrative" to

Savage (Songs from a Broken World) ''Savage (Songs from a Broken World)'' is the eighteenth solo studio album by English musician Gary Numan, released on 15 September 2017 by BMG and The End. The album was first announced to be a part of a fan-backed Pledge Music Campaign on 12 ...

. ''Intruder'' entered the UK album chart at number two, on 28 May 2021, but it dropped to number sixty-three the following week and dropped off the chart after that.

Track listing

Personnel

* Gary Numan – vocals, keyboards * Ade Fenton – keyboards, programming, mixing, production * Steve Harris – guitars *

Tim Slade Tim Slade (born 3 August 1985) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the Repco Supercars Championship. Slade currently drives the No. 3 Ford Mustang GT for Blanchard Racing Team. Early career Slade first appeared at a national level ...

– bass * Gorkem Sen – strings (

) *

Gazelle Twin Elizabeth Bernholz (née Walling), b. 1981 in Canterbury, England, and better known by her stage name Gazelle Twin, is an electronic music composer, producer and musician who is currently based in Leicestershire, England. She is unsigned and re ...

– backing vocals * Persia Numan – backing vocals * Raven Numan – backing vocals * Nathan Boddy – mixing *

Matt Colton Matt Colton (born 30 March 1975) is an English mastering engineer and member of the mastering group of the Music Producers Guild. He has mastered recordings for artists such as Muse, Coldplay, James Blake, George Michael, Hot Chip, Gary Num ...

– mastering

Charts

References

2021 albums Gary Numan albums {{2020s-album-stub