The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place [CD]

Having stumbled across the excellent “Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever”, I was in some way both prepared for, and very much looking forward to Explosions In The Sky’s next album. This record had a lot to live up to, and I am glad to say it has. Perhaps more subtle, and certainly less rocky than “Those Who…”, this new album is also a step forward for Explosions In The Sky. It sounds breathtaking: beautiful melodies, unforced build-ups, and chiming guitars. It proves guitars, bass, and drums can still be used to create something fresh if put together well enough. No-one is likely to want to switch the stereo off and check the window to see if the world really has ended, but this record is still emotional. Explosions In The Sky sound like a band enjoying themeselves as everything around them goes up in smoke. The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place after all.

The tone of the album is more consistent this time around, with predominantly clean, high-register guitars weaving beautiful, intricate melodies around each other. With sparser use of the distortion pedals than on 'Those Who Tell Truth...' (which inevitably led to comparisons of that album with much of Mogwai's early work), the shifts in dynamics are more subtle, but no less effective. Opener 'First Breath After Coma' starts with a single plucked guitar note, soon joined by a delicate chiming two-note progression, until skittering percussion enters. The track builds momentum with clean guitars shimmering like The Edge with less reverb, before it falls into eerie ambience from which rises a simple, repetitive interplay between two guitars, eventually overwhelmed by splashing cymbals and a slowly rising, buzzing, droning distortion.

'The Only Moment We Were Alone' is even more impressive, the band wielding delicate beauty and overwhelming power with equal aplomb. The dynamic fluctuations are breathtaking and the track ends with the album's heaviest moment, the most crushingly cathartic, yet desperately gorgeous noise committed to record this year.

The remaining three tracks offer more of the same, all maintaining the high standards set by the first two. Some may complain that this consistency of tone makes 'The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place' a little too samey, but the quality and invention of the melodic interplay between the guitars and the spot-on percussion make this a thoroughly engaging album from start to finish. You might even be able to get your friends who dismiss the post-rock in your record collection to love it, and praise for this type of instrumental music doesn't come much higher than that...