by Shilpa Saravanan, editor-in-chief

Lana Del Rey’s latest record, “Ultraviolence,” seems at first to be merely a continuation of the ethereal, faux-retro style that Del Rey employed with significant success on her previous two studio albums.

Indeed, lyrically, little has changed. Del Rey remains as decadent, dark and dangerously self-aware as ever. Musically, however, she has ditched everything at which she tends not to excel. Gone is the vapid, fast-moving sugar-pop that made appearances on those earlier albums–“Ultraviolence” starts off sultry and slow with its nearly seven-minute opener “Cruel World,” and it never lets up as Del Rey reaches previously unheard-of levels of languor.

In short: this is not an album to listen to during your morning run.

That’s not to say that “Ultraviolence” isn’t good. To her credit, Del Rey does venture into previously uncharted territory during tracks such as “Shades of Cool” (with a particularly unexpected guitar solo) and “West Coast” (featuring drums, and fittingly beachy drums at that.) But even as she adopts her usual shifting personas–the triumphant femme fatale of “Money Power Glory” and the doleful millennial of “Brooklyn Baby” come to mind–every song’s overall sound is identically, unrelentingly bleak.

The great thing about “Ultraviolence,” though, is that it manages to be engaging despite essentially remaining the same for an hour. “Ultraviolence” will please those who already enjoy Del Rey’s style, but those who don’t should take the album one track at a time–it’s completely saturated with the essence of Lana Del Rey, and it can be overwhelming if consumed all at once.

Image from Interscope. Stream “Ultraviolence” in its entirety on Spotify.