Music : The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

Rating: - cy54g
Allow me a lazy comparison: The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place is the 3 Feet High and Rising of post-rock. Both have a decent amount of respect within genres that are irrelevant to most, yet not far enough out there to be completely obtuse, and both are relatively unthreatening; ideal for those who want to dip their toe in the water but aren't brave enough to go diving off the cliffs into the deep, vast sea just yet. You can claim to be open-minded too, by backing up your dismissal of Godspeed/Wu-Tang by stating that you like Explosions/De La Soul. It's all down to personal taste and not lack of appreciation, right?

While other post-rock bands indulge themselves in "pretension" (monologues, political references, enigmatic personas, etc.), Explosions in the Sky are happy to just add echo effects to their twangy guitars and increase the pace of the drumming whenever they feel the need to "build". I don't mind predictability; I know what I'm getting with a lot of hardcore punk, yet the sheer joy of listening to a new album makes up for any lack of variety. Essentially, The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place sounds like a jam session by a better band after a hard night of drug abuse. Slap on some beautiful cover art, get a record deal and, bang, you're suddenly the figurehead of a genre.

Relating this back to De La Soul, there is one key difference that makes me bump 3 Feet High and Rising every so often yet leave this slab of instrumental boredom on the shelf: De La Soul are fun. Yeah, for all their inoffensiveness, Prince Paul's fun-lovin', hippy New Yorkers really knew how to make creative music that could bring people towards the style as well as please those jaded, cynical stalwarts in the corner

Hell, when this genre's at its peak, it can shake the very foundations of your soul like nothing else. This just buzzes in the background.

---

Rating: - soaring and never boring
Album number three from the texan post rock instrumentalists shows a band very much confident in their own ability to stir emotions and build to glorious and vast heights in this 45 minute,5 track album.
This band at this juncture lived up to the sparse nature of post rock in that there is only guitars,bass and drums,no keyboard,no pianos,no anything bar what i mentioned,but yet the atmospheres conjured were very far from dull.
I will state that on my first few listens of this that i wasnt blown away,i kept thinking of the band pelican and thinking that they do it better,well now,while i think that pelican do it better in terms of being heavy,that explosions in the sky are just so good at creating soundscapes that hit the heart.
First breath after coma opens proceedings and broods and teases before launching into a perfect crescendo,drums are so important here as they stamp over everything and lift the song to soaring status.
The rest of the album follows in similar fashions and speed frames and development is so important to this band,not to give away their hand to early,they taunt and tease and bring you to places you shouldnt be,high praise indeed,very enjoyable.

---

Rating: - Controlled Explosions
`The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place' is a marked departure in style from its predecessor, the wonderful `Those Who Tell the Truth...' Gone are the swooping and soaring rock guitars, replaced with a more carefully controlled approach.

The new style works superbly on tracks one and five. `First Breath After Coma' layers chiming guitars on a heartbeat pulse before building to a climax of shimmering beauty. `Your Hand In Mine' is anchored with a strong drum pattern before introducing a guitar line after two and a half minutes which is breathtakingly beautiful - a real goose-bump moment of true inspiration.

Elsewhere, the band do let loose with their trademark guitar explosions, but in a far more measured way. `The Only Moment We Were Alone' teases the listener for eight minutes before letting rip spectacularly. `Memorial' finishes with an astonishing burst of noise.

This is a lovely record and beautifully played throughout but the downside would have to be a slight lack of variety. The tracks do sound very similar and the CD takes a lot of listens to fully appreciate, though this type of music by nature is impossible to judge properly after one listen. Track three,`Six Days At the Bottom of the Ocean', threatens to build and climax like track two but never really delivers.

Still a very good record, though. Instrumental guitar music for connoisseurs.

---

Rating: - It's like Prog - but good!
If you've ever looked down at yourself in a 3rd person view driving round sweeping roads, or walking along a City River in B&W, or you are in the angst years of 13 - 19 when the world seems dead set against you and only you know it - then this album is for you.
If you are looking for some goddamn loud instrumental music with chiming, soaring guitars and pounding drums and not a lot else - then this is for you to.
Reading this back this doesn't sound like the most positive review - however I really mean it in a good way, nay an excellent way - - This album rocks!
Oh, and if you get the chance, go and see these guys live, they are every bit as they are on disc.

---

Rating: - more disappointments than explosions
I purchased this album after many friends encouraged me to do so, and after having read many extremely positive reviews on the net. I was very disappointed with what I heard from this CD. My reasons follow;

1. The majority of the songs on offer trundle through a VERY tried and tested formula of quiet to crescendo and back, something that I'd expect from an interesting and cutting edge band many years ago. Now it's more tried, tested, and tired of.

2. The palette of guitar sounds is very limited, every song has the same sounds on offer, which does nothing to give each composition some flavour, character, identity. These guys already use an array of effects, why not use that to an advantage? They're clearly skilled enough to do so, so why not?

3. There is a high dependance on the uplifting/chiming guitar sound, which has been utilised by many other great bands before and since, but these bands have juxtaposed this with other sounds/tones/moods. EITS seem to limit this, resulting in songs being blander than they could have been.

Overall, this album showcases a band who are happy to play 'post-rock' by numbers, relying on old school post-rock techniques. There ARE some nice passages, and a few nice melodies, but it's all somewhat run of the mill.