So welcome to the Brave New World, a landscape populated by Atom Smashers, seasick captains of industry, failed ideas and graying horizons. "I don't want to live forever/ I just want to live," Mills sings at one point; if the record has a theme, that's it: trying to hold close friends and loved ones while everything around is, sometimes literally, falling apart. Mills 'work has always been characterized by a strong undercurrent of cynicism (see 2005's "Chris Mills is Living the Dream") and on Aftermath that sly sarcasm is accompanied by some of his sturdiest — and most aggressive — music to date. "Living in the Aftermath" is broke-down country, all great wheezing organs and sawing violins. Sweetening the deal is Mills 'easy knack for tunefulness: songs like "Alls Well That Ends" and the unflappable album opener "Calling All Comrades" are bright and buoyant and bolstered by white-hot choruses — a little bit of sparkle in an otherwise jaundiced eye.