Deep guitar riffs. Deteriorated applause. Demons pierced with the weight of a hundred blades. Twisted keyholes. Otherworldly red smolders. And G-Eazy perched upon a black throne.

In his first full-length project after nearly three years, G-Eazy storms back into the music scene today with the release of Freak Show, his seventh studio album. Self-reflection and vulnerability masked with tracks that bellow and roar, Freak Show is the intersection where adrenaline meets intimacy. Where fingers meet a hand to hold. Where breath cuts short and catches again. A funhouse mirror that reflects a million distorted versions of the musician, the album is an invitation into an exhibition where G-Eazy puts himself on full display: Dark aesthetics in foreplay with Bay Area magnetism.

Is somebody gonna match his freak? The tracks say, yes, as the Oakland rapper capitalizes on his vividly detailed expository lyricism to take listeners on an offering, one that traverses from an oddity of inner voices, to bedsheets, to the backseat of a New York taxi cab. In this rap-meets-rock return to music making, G-Eazy’s Freak Show is a confession that “We’re all Freaks.”

In 12 tracks, complete with a revamped version of his hit song, “Lady Killers II,” G-Eazy explores an eerie sound that chills blood down to the bone. Opening with “Welcome,” where a ringmaster announces, “Here to remind you that you’re alive / There’s no need to worry ‘cause everyone’s crazy here,” the album is separated into a series of acts that claw at anomalies like fame, love and the temporality of life.

Earlier this month, G-Eazy released a single on the album titled “Anxiety,” a track that describes that enigmatic, yet deeply pointed self-critique of anxiety. He sings, “Hello Gerald, it's the voice in your mind / I'm here and I only get louder with time / With every drink and every line / You've been falling off and you're way out your prime.” The track is a punch to the gut and a moment of relief. He also released “Femme Fatale” in early spring, which features artists Coi Leray and Kaliii.

Other songs on the album include “Freak Show” (of the album’s namesake) which mixes that eerie you-know-the-sound keys of a clown’s circus jingle with a ferocious snare beat. Meanwhile, “Showbiz” describes his ascent to fame with piano notes that catalyze the familiar sensations of fear: A dry throat with an empty scream, a gripping pulse, a fiery feeling of fight or flight. And yet, the artist still offers a sense of reprieve with the balmy production of tracks “South of France” and “Love You Forever,” which feel like coming home. The songs are akin to running in the cold, to escaping a house of horrors—shaken up and huffing, but still alive.

G-Eazy steps onto the stage only to look inward with Freak Show. He invites listeners to the carnival as his world tour begins in Berkeley in October. His act traverses through North America, then rolls into 2025 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.