Threads is the worst social media platform in the world. It takes some doing to be worse than Facebook and X, but amid all the fakes, bots, porn and right wing bullshit there’s the hot takes. The other day some idiot — upon hearing these not exactly protest songs, but let’s just say songs with a very 2026 world view — said: “When did U2 become this political?”
Tell me you know nothing without saying you’re thick, right?
Because if there’s one thing “Days Of Ash” does, it’s remind you that U2 have always had their eyes open. The difference here is that they’re not dressing it up in stadium sheen or chasing the sort of safe, sleek universality that can blur the sharp edges. This EP is rawer than they’ve sounded in years, and it’s aimed straight at the moment we’re all stuck in.
“American Obituary” lands like a clenched fist. It follows a similar line to Springsteen’s recent song about Minneapolis, but where that felt like reporting from the street, this feels like someone grabbing the mic and refusing to let go. Bono sings “America will rise,” and he’s clearly not getting a vibe from the orange-faced prick. There’s something almost evangelical about it — not in a preacher way, more in that “I’m begging you to see this” urgency.
Then “The Years Of Change” flips the light. It starts almost folk-like, before it builds into something bigger, the kind of slow-burn uplift they’ve always done so well. And the key line — “everybody is my people, let my people go” — hits hard because it’s both inclusive and defiant, an old phrase repurposed for a new age that keeps trying to shrink empathy into a culture-war punchline.
There’s a lighter pop feel as “Song Of The Future” arrives, and it’s smarter than it first seems. The idea that “love is verb and not a noun” is the sort of line that could be naff in the wrong hands, but here it plays like a genuine reaching-out — and yeah, it’d be nice if it really was the future.
“Wildpeace” is where it gets properly left-field: a spoken word, prog-ish piece that acts like a throat-clear before the EP opens out into “One Life At A Time.” That track is the emotional centre for me — expansive without being glossy, with guitar work that’s absolutely sensational. It’s the sound of a band remembering how to sound present again, not just polished.
And because nothing is simple in 2026, the closer “Yours Eternally” brings in serial collaborator Ed Sheeran. It’s uplifting without being saccharine, and it works because it doesn’t try to pretend everything’s fine — it offers a hand anyway.
No music can change the world these days — and you can doubt whether it ever really could — but that doesn’t mean the biggest voices shouldn’t reflect the times. “Days Of Ash” does exactly that, and it does it very well… and more to the point, pretty bravely.
RATING: 8/10
