This may be the last album from the Norwegian duo, but it's not the end of Röyksopp. Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland say they will continue to make music, though The Inevitable End marks their final engagement with the album format.
They leave this pitch in much the same fashion as they arrived, bearing belters and bruisers full of emotional gambits and finely egged ennui. When Röyksopp are engaged, the results can be transfixing. Both the magnificently buffed and polished Running to the Sea and the tough, dramatic Sordid Affair, with vocals from Susanne Sundfør and Ryan James respectively, remind you of their pop smarts.
But Röyksopp can just as often fade from view and sound as if they’re just putting in the hours until they can head home, meaning the occasional lack of focus and sense of torpor leaves the listener at a loss.
