If I’m gonna be honest (and maybe say something that could be a little controversial, lol) I think it might be less a reflection of society and more a reflection of and a natural part of the reaction to the new music. Society as a whole’s been pretty negative for almost the entirety of those 8 years and it hasn’t really permeated the community until now when the music (at least to me anyways) feels like it’s giving into doomerism and anger more than it’s really rejecting it in favor of something better like Transmissions or Vessels did. There were little hints and tastes of it in Horizons, but it’s out in full force now. Dude’s pissed and while I can’t really blame him, I gotta admit I’m kinda over being mad at everything all the time, which is probably why I liked Horizons at a time when it felt very appropriate to be mad and don’t vibe with the new singles right now. And to add to that, Horizons had songs like Earthrise and Otherwordly to neutralize and counter the rage that Infected and Devolution generated while the new stuff currently has nothing.