Let’s get one thing straight: Dorian Electra, a rising star in the world of alt-pop, is an acquired taste. Born Dorian Electra Fridkin Gomberg, their androgynous, electronic voice, outlandish lyrics and ambiguous, yet campy look might be offsetting to the uninitiated. Look past it, though, and you’ll find an artist who’s willing to push boundaries much further than their more marketable counterparts. Electra’s debut album, “Flamboyant,” although rough around the edges, revolves around themes of masculinity, societal expectations, capitalism and the ability to embrace one’s identity, all wrapped up in a soft synth-pop box with dreamy auto-tuned vocals.

“My Agenda,” the artist’s sophomore project which dropped October 16, is not so easy to swallow. From the cover art, a neon green distorted image of Electra, it’s clear that this is not the light, dandy synth-pop we got on “Flamboyant.” Then, you hear the first track begin to play and the music only drives that notion home. The album itself is a sonic medley that throws metal, hyper pop and synth-pop into a bag and shakes vigorously throughout its 25-minute run. Its lyrics are, in contrast to their debut project, the rough, strange and edgy musings of a character clearly embroiled in the internet realm of incel culture. This is a subculture of the internet that’s defined by how they blame women for their inability to attract romantic partners, as defined by the ADL.

The album opener, “F The World” begins with eerie bell tolls and distorted and industrial vocals. Eventually, it explodes into the banging dubstep meat of the song, which only lets you breathe for a few seconds before transitioning to the title track “My Agenda.” The central character’s anger fueled by the mockery of left-leaning people threatening to “infect” the listener, accompanied by harmonic backings by The Village People and a particularly tumultuous verse from Pussy Riot, who screams about homophobic Russian laws over the very loaded instrumental. “Gentleman” and “M’lady” might as well be one song, outlining both Electra’s character’s unrealistic views of themselves and their ideal woman. “M’lady” in particular, is a stripped-back spoken word that details these unrealistic standards, stating “M’lady is sexy  / M’lady is pure / M’lady is chaste / M’lady’s a whore.”

If the listener makes in through the daunting first half of “My Agenda,” they’ll be met with glimmers of the sound one might find on “Flamboyant.” Especially in the pure synth-pop sounds of  “Barbie Boy,” which transitions to the surprisingly  softer “Sorry Bro (I Love You).” Although a rather humor-filled take on the subject, “Sorry Bro (I Love You)” opens the listeners’ eyes to a bit of the speaker’s humanity: their struggle to be able to express their feelings, especially to their male counterparts. However, this lapse in inhibitions for our speaker doesn’t last long, as the emotional wall is immediately brought back up with “Edgelord.” This track, chock full of references to memes, The Joker and overall a large sense of immaturity, that it’s easy to forget just two tracks ago we were genuinely exploring their emotional struggles.

The crux of these emotions is found in “Ram it Down.” Bringing back the angry metal guitars and guttural screams, “Ram it Down” highlights masking the urge to live as one’s most authentic self with outright homophobia instead, as the speaker ends up wishing for people who aren’t afraid to be authentic would “ram it down” the speaker’s throat so they may feel something similar to what others feel. “Give Great Thanks” sees our character finally find that self-acceptance through very sexually explicit means, including but not limited to references to BDSM and elements of masochism, it’s the sort of absurdist happy ending that only Electra could pull off.

If there was any criticism to be had of the album, it’s likely in the run time. This album throws a lot at the listener. At 25 minutes, with half of the tracks barely reaching the two-minute mark, it’s common to find yourself watching the track titles change and be surprised by how far into the album you could get after only ten minutes or so. While some tracks could’ve been stretched out a little longer, a listener might find that those 25 minutes don’t feel so short as there’s simply so much noise being thrown at them that time itself seems to slow. Perhaps, for an album about a person so out of touch with reality, that slow down of time might be a good thing.

“My Agenda” is streaming on all platforms now.

You can email Isabel at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @fibiotibula.