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"Could soft be the new hard? Sound-wise, Ure’s new album is the gentlest comeback imaginable, but there’s real lyrical bite smuggled in with the meditative vibe of his first new material in 12 years. And a curious beast it is: definitely an album of two halves, as its title implies. The first part, subtitled "World One", finds Ure unleashing his inner Erik Satie for a series of eight ambient piano-led instrumentals. The meat of the matter comes in "World Two": eight songs of stately anguish, despatches from a dark place that somehow we all know far too well. "Just Words" could have been inspired by some demented small-hours presidential post on Truth Social. That slides seamlessly into "World Away", which resonates like a rebuke to the arrogant authoritarians who run our lives. Ure’s yearning for a better time and place reaches its apex in "Somewhere Out There", a beatless ballad. Aggressive guitars and big beats strike an anthemic note in "The Man Who Stole Your Soul"." (Louder Than War; 4 uit 5 sterren)