ANOTHER LANGUAGE

In these muddy, impending doom, drone-like, shoegaze, noisy, white noisy, trashy and snary, old radio like environments which could simply turn out to sound anonymous due to the fact that all these "musical elements" are a constant in most Post Rock/Mathers bands, you really have to watch out for "unique" proposals to distinguish one from the other.

Well, texan band "This Will Destroy You" brings some new exciting and attractive cards to this Prog sub genre's table in this, 2014, "Another Language". Let me start with its music composition which travels from chaos to peace with an astounding, yet raw, clarity. Its quirky, perfectly built melody lines outstand even among the most explosive abstract sections, offering simultaneous and opposite musical perspectives, taken to highly heavy bombastic altitudes and crash landing peacefully and beautifully by its good and attractive songwriting.

As such everything sounds perfect, but at the end of the day, the inherent musical elements of this style will hardly be distinguishable among the upcoming and ongoing Post Rock/Math Rock bands and crowds, if not for its brilliant songwriting, song selection and disposition which shines all along this dirty and washed out road.

****4 PA stars.

There are several post rock bands out there that use a basic formula and that is starting off with a slow and soft section that builds and crescendos to a climax and ending with a loud and usually chaotic ending. This formula can start to get old after a while unless the band starts adding some ingenuity to the formula, or retaining the post rock sound without even using that formula. The best post rock bands do this, like Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Mono, Godspeed You! Black Emperor (and all of it's spin offs), and others. This Will Destroy You is another band that should be considered in this group of post rock band elites.

They do use this basic formula for the most part, but there are plenty of variations on it to keep things interesting. They are also not afraid to veer away from it and also experiment with the formula. Their original debut EP "Young Mountain" really does well to show this inventiveness and establish this band as one of the best, but for some reason, they have been ignored by a lot of people who love this type of music. The band also gets compared to "Explosions in the Sky" which is a good comparison, but they don't really care for this comparison and say that their next album will prove that they are much different. Of course, there are some similarities since they are in the same genre, but I find that This Will Destroy You is a lot more adventuresome and experimental with their sound.

"Another Language" is currently their most recent album, though there are talks to do more, which is good. It follows in the same vein as "Young Mountain", except there is more of a metallic sound to this album. Reverb is used a lot heavier on this album, which makes for some beautiful and atmospheric passages throughout the music. Dynamics are well utilized here too, which was also the case with "Young Mountain". With the use of reverb here though, the louder passages are very chaotic and heavy sounding, and at times, the effects can almost make you think you can hear some vocalizations deep in the mix, but that is not the case.

There are other effects done with the strings that give the music some very interesting atmosphere. This is really apparent on the softer track "God's Teeth". This one does not have any crescendo, but stays pretty soft throughout, and the track becomes more of a shoegaze style, but with a lot more interesting aspects added in. Shoegaze to me, can sometimes get quite un-emotional and boring, but this track does not become that. The band considers this album to be more of a "doom- gaze" style, taking aspects from doom metal and shoegaze music. Personally, I still find the first half of this album very post rock sounding, as was the case in the past, just with more reverb and loudness. The second half is more quiet, sometimes almost ambient and slightly drone like, but remaining interesting throughout. The reverb effect that is used extensively here, makes the music darker and thicker, almost orchestral and cinematic in feel with a lot of distortion in the loud passages, but I don't hear the doom metal aspect so much.

The album is completely instrumental as usual. The music does become more interesting and varied as the album goes on. I was hoping for this because too much of the same style or formula tends to get stale quickly. Although, I don't find the band quite as inventive as some of the post rock bands I mentioned earlier, they are still willing to try new things and utilize effects that make them and their songs unique. I continue to consider this a band worth checking out, especially if you are a fan of post rock. They just don't tend to get noticed as much as their peers, and they should be recognized for their unique sound.

This Will Destroy You is one of those bands that I feel you either love or hate. To a blind ear they may just seem like your stereotypical post rock group trying to be like Explosions In The Sky or Mogwai, but when looked at closely they are actually quite unique. Sure, they may not reinvent the wheel, and they may not be as experimental or groundbreaking as Swans or 65daysofstatic, but This Will Destroy You is a band that can ultimately put out some incredible tunes when they get the ball rolling. I think they have some excellent songs on their first and second albums of Young Mountain and their self titled, but I think Another Language, their fourth album, is kind of an underdog in their catalog of great releases.

Another Language was kind of a return to form for the band after their more ambient Tunnel Blanket, but unlike their self titled and Young Mountain they decided to combine their ambient workings of Tunnel Blanket with their energetic post rock, and I think this direction adds a bit of charm to the band's output on here. Many of these songs are quiet, and very patient with what they are trying to achieve, like most post rock stuff, but I find This Will Destroy You has a bit more energy in these quieter moments, often going a bit more melodic, which I like, as well as going a tad more harder and louder on the crescendos, almost to the point where they dip their feet in the murky post metal waters.

I think what makes this album very fun to listen to is how the band bends and shapes their music with each song. While on first listens each song may feel like a carbon copy from one another, on a closer look I found these tracks to truly be each of their own craft. Sure, each song may be wearing a tuxedo to the party, but they all bought different brands and sizes of those tuxedos. Some songs are more ambient and some are more bombastic; some songs are more somber and some are more aggressive. It creates this balance of high beauty and high energy, that a song on here can be good for any occasion and vibe. That is what I find most enjoyable about This Will Destroy You in general, they can shift between these beautiful and haunting melodies and atmospheres, too these really eventful pieces of miraculous energy on a dime that it makes them feel like a roller coaster in post rock form.

I will say however that, while I may like the more ambient pieces here, they are definitely the weakest parts of the album for me. The Puritan, and God's Teeth are particular here since I feel like these tracks were made for the sake of adding more tracks than necessary. God's Teeth is probably the worst here as I feel like the track before it, Memory Loss, should've been the closer as it has a more finale feel to it, and it has a good feel at that. God's Teeth just doesn't quite feel like a suitable, or in fact, necessary closer for this album.

I will also say that I feel the album to be a bit top heavy, since the first four tracks are some of the best the band has created in my mind, but tracks afterwards, besides Memory Loss, I feel aren't as good. It ain't the end of the world, but I just wish the track listings here were a bit better.

Overall I think this is a good and underrated album from the band. It may not be as stellar as Young Mountain, or really really excellent like their self-titled, but I do think it certainly has a place up on the This Will Destroy You throne.