This is a really good debut album, for 2015. It opens with "6up 5oh Cop-Out (Pro/Con)", which is a delightful opener. Its fast paced opening, with police sirens in the background, perfectly displays what you're getting into. The lyrics feature themes of law enforcement and getting arrested, which goes well with the jazzy, frantic instrumentals. It's then followed up with the calmer "Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, N.Y. (Bones)", which is a great cool-off from the chaotic energy of "6up 5oh Cop-Out". In a calm falsetto, Will sings about anorexia, accompanied by a soothing instrumental, featuring what sounds like a kazoo that plays after the chorus. Also, it's really fun to sing "balls" instead of "bones" when you're singing this song. This then leads into "Front Street". Ohhhhhh, Front Street. Will growls out a brilliantly deranged tune about rape culture, with a twistedly jazzy instrumental to boot, leading up to the song's climax, where Will sings "Always a good time!..." which for years I thought was "always I could die". The Tapeworms then come in, chanting "Last call for morals better cover your drink, Sodom and Gomorrah'd let it go down the sink..." The song ends with cacophonous noise, and Will letting out a great scream. Sadly, this is followed up with "Aikido! (Neurotic/Erotic)", which, frankly, is the weakest song on the album. It's a calm little song to cool down from "Front Street", but it's really not my cup of tea. Luckily, it's just before "White Knuckle Jerk (Where Do You Get Off?)", the horniest song on the album. Will, with his heart "bluer than [his] balls", croons out a lustful ballad for a woman he'll "never know what it's like to love/fuck", accompanied by a slow, smooth instrumental. The smooth vibes carry on to the track "Cover This Song (A Little Bit Mine)", which is a beautiful breakup song, where Will sings about how he needs the person he's singing about in his life. I do plan on covering this song one of these days. But old Will doesn't handle the breakup as well in the next song, which is my second favorite of his: "Thermodynamic Lawyer Esq. G.F.D". God, where do I start? This song is absolutely unhinged, and that's why I love it so much. Will rants and screams about his shitty ex-girlfriend, whom he refers to as "a bitch with some 4,000 names". You can just feel the anger and hatred radiating off the song, from Will's angry, growling screams, to the lyrics that include "squeal like a trolley wheel, cry like a baby with autism strapped to a ceiling fan", to the 6/8 time signature of the manic instrumentals, to the ending, where Will tells her to "kill [herself] and go die". God, it's just perfect. The greatness continues with "Red Moon", which is a brilliantly jazzy and cryptic tune about the "hedonic treadmill". A solid track to cool down after "Thermodynamic Lawyer", followed up by an even calmer track, "Lysergide Daydream". It's a calm, somewhat sad song about escapism, and wanting to be "in a place [Will] can call a place to get away from it all". Then comes "The First Step", a jaunty, "vibe-y" song about Will's alcoholism. "I'd try to see the glass as half full, but I'd probably just drink that too!" he declares. The song swells to a climax when Will sings the chorus for the last time, then screams at the top of his lungs, ending the song. This leads into "Jimmy Mushrooms' Last Drink: Bedtime in Wayne, NJ", a song in that carries the same vibes as "Lysergide Daydream", where Will sings from the perspective of the jaded "Jimmy Mushrooms", who is "not afraid to die, [but] more afraid of what might happen first". This then leads into the delightfully chaotic mess that is my favorite song off the album, and my favorite Will Wood song ever: "Chemical Overreaction / Compound Fracture". It opens with a sample from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", then hits you with manic, fast-paced instrumentals as Will screams at the top of his lungs. Will then starts singing about a bad drug trip akin to the movie the song sampled at the beginning, as the instrumentals slow down into something slightly swinging, only to kick back in during the chorus. There's also a kazoo solo before the second verse, and after the second chorus is a sick guitar solo, which slows down and leads into the outro of the song, where Will kind of breaks down, as the melody from "Skeleton Appreciation Day" plays. This leads into the finale, the quietest, saddest song on the album: the titular "Everything is a Lot". In it, Will plays the piano and questions the meaning of life. It's a really good song to cry yourself to sleep to, or at least until the true finale: "Destroy to Enjoy", an aggressive, harsh rant against "enlightenment" and religion. All in all, it makes for a damn good album, and I highly recommend it.
Hearing "In case I make it," after listening to Will Wood's first 3 albums gives off the same vibes as when the calm teacher yells at you, but in a weird, reverse-type thing. Like, listen to "Thermodynamic Lawyer", then listen to "Falling Up". I like to call it the one where Will finally calms down.