Tori Amos - In Times Of Dragons (2026) Hi-Res

On her 18th album in a prolific 40-year career, Tori Amos still has plenty to say. In Times of Dragons is a parable about our current day—about power-hungry men and the collateral damage they threaten to leave in their wake. But this is Amos, so even her most earthbound narratives are fantastical, fantastic and frightening. "Southern girls know what it means when the patriarchy menacingly says, 'You shush yourself down now,'" Amos intones on opener "Shush," which finds her singing from the point of view of a character who has escaped the penthouse of her "sadistic billionaire Lizard Demon husband," as the the singer has described him, a man who wants to drag society back to feudal times he can control. "I knew a girl who wrote/ 'Silent All These Years'/ Where is she?" Amos sings, getting self-referential as she makes clear why she had to stand up and fight. ("Ode to Minnesota" offers support to the state that saw two protesters killed by ICE officers in early 2026.) But she still understands why others must do so in quieter ways. "We who choose love over greed/ We are becoming/ An endangered species/ Like an angelshark … we sometimes must hide to survive," she sings on "Angelshark," powered by a deep, feral thump. Still, there is another trademark characteristic of the oceanic bottom-dweller of the title: If a diver threatens it, the angelsharp will strike out with its sharp teeth.

There are classic Tori tropes here, both lyrically and musically. The stirring piano of "Provincetown" evokes her Little Earthquakes era as well as a ripe-on-the-verge-of rotting forest: slippery bass moving like a snake, harpsichord buzzing like a bee, drums that click and rumble like distant thunder. Tarot combo "Ace of Cups and The Lovers"—which signifies a powerful new harmony in relationships—is cited in "Pyrite" (a.k.a. fool's gold), a song that gallops and rears up even as bassist Jon Evans keeps things rooted with a super groovy rhythm line. Matt Chamberlain, a frequent collaborator, likewise sounds playful and powerful—using his drums to evoke the footsteps of a lumbering monster on the title track and signal an eruption on "Gasoline Girls." The time-keeping beats of "St. Teresa" burrow into your gut as Amos pays tribute to the 16th-century Spanish nun who chronicled her ecstatic mystical experiences. "Fanny Faudrey" is vaudevillian and "Veins" is Broadway theatrical. The latter is one of several songs featuring Amos' daughter Natashya Hawley, along with meditative "Song of Sorrow" and soft, sweet "Strawberry Moon." And the two encourage each other with hope on "Stronger Together," a big-hearted, big-emotion power ballad: "In menacing times/ Stripped of rights/ And diabolical crimes … We've been trapped in darkness." But purgatory, they sing, is "just the start of the story."

Tracklist
1. Tori Amos - Shush
2. Tori Amos - In Times of Dragons
3. Tori Amos - Provincetown
4. Tori Amos - St. Teresa
5. Tori Amos - Gasoline Girls
6. Tori Amos - Ode to Minnesota
7. Tori Amos - Fanny Faudrey
8. Tori Amos - Veins
9. Tori Amos - Strawberry Moon
10. Tori Amos - Song of Sorrow
11. Tori Amos - Flood
12. Tori Amos - Pyrite
13. Tori Amos - Tempest
14. Tori Amos - Angelshark
15. Tori Amos - Blue Lotus
16. Tori Amos - Stronger Together
17. Tori Amos - 23 Peaks

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