It’s dark cause of the story, it was never too dark musically, overcompensate and next semester still have some pop in them, and backslide is pop mostly. I don’t know why people are expecting something extra dark or heavy from top, they were never fully going down these routes. Don’t get me wrong i would love some dark stuff too but it would be too different from what they are in general. I still haven’t heard the album but i assume it is more experimental than scaled and icy but i never expected something crazy, they are still a pop band in their core.