The Chicago-based artist Joseph Schwartz has spent his career thumbing his nose at traditional music-making rules, embracing AI tools and synthetic production without apology. With “Ready for Doom,” Schwartz takes his no-holds-barred approach and applies it to some pretty heavy questions about what’s happening in America right now.
“Schwartz has created a choose-your-own-adventure of righteous anger, where every path leads to the same uncomfortable truth.”
So, instead of giving us a traditional EP with multiple songs, Schwartz delivers one track and three remixes. It’s the same message, just dressed up in different outfits for different occasions. Some people need acoustic introspection to process heavy topics, while others require face-melting hard rock to match their frustration levels. The song itself tackles big, uncomfortable questions about healthcare dismantling, military posturing, and economic chaos through the lens of biblical apocalypse. It’s smart framing, really. When you’re criticizing policies that feel catastrophic, why not use the language of actual catastrophe?
This isn’t about left versus right; it’s about right versus wrong, framed in terms that have resonated for millennia. Joseph is an artist who doesn’t dance around his point. Schwartz starts with his own recordings, then brings in AI assistance and digital manipulation to create the final product. For some listeners, that’ll be controversial. There’s still a crowd that insists “real” music requires analog purity and human-only creation. Schwartz’s response seems to be: who cares? His mission statement practically dares other artists to stop gatekeeping and start creating. Make the music you want to make.
The three remix versions prove surprisingly effective at expanding the track’s reach. The acoustic version strips everything down to essentials, forcing you to sit with the lyrics without distraction. It’s uncomfortable in the best way. The hard rock remix, meanwhile, channels pure frustration into driving rhythms and aggressive instrumentation, and then there’s the pop rock version, which proves that accessibility doesn’t mean dumbing down.
“Ready for Doom” doesn’t leave room for projection or misinterpretation. The song ultimately succeeds because it respects its audience enough to be blunt. Whether you agree with this track or not, you can’t deny the conviction behind it.
Muse Chronicle 
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