EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY

Two years after its release the latest album by the celebrated Austin, Texas quartet still hasn't attracted much attention in these pages, despite being arguably their best effort yet. No new ground was broken here, but the group continues to mature, building their panoramic Post Rock epiphanies with a little more variety in style than usual, and showing a better developed sense of nuance as well.

The music as usual presents a dynamic contrast between serenity and noise, but this time around the balance is more organic and the transitions much smoother. "Be Comfortable, Creature" (I'd love to know how they invent such evocative titles) opens with a delicate moodiness worthy of early GENESIS, gradually lifted into the big skies of West Texas on an updraft of laser beam guitar sustain recalling a young Robert Fripp enjoying a Rio Grande vacation. Two tracks later the album closer "Let Me Back In" offers a quintessential EitS apotheosis, but with an atypically swinging rhythm underneath.

Those huge, booming drums are still an acquired taste, in songs like "Trembling Hands" and "Last Known Surroundings" all but obliterating the adjoining frequencies. Maybe there wasn't another way for percussionist Chris Hrasky to compete against the wall of sound generated by three electric guitarists, but the album improves when the production exercises more restraint, as in "Postcard From 1952" or the gentle waltz-like intro to "Human Qualities".

There continues to be something attractively transcendental about this band and its music: an unspoken striving toward the empyrean light of whatever plateau you choose to recognize as heaven. As suggested by their collective moniker the experience is often beautiful, bright, and very loud, animated by an eloquence sometimes lacking in the music of kindred Post Rockers with a similar agenda. This collection of six songs, four years in the making (and worth every minute of the wait), brings them one step closer to paradise.

By the mid-2000s, post-rock was by no means a fresh or original idea, any more than (say) jazz fusion was by the middle of the 1970s or symphonic prog was by 1977. That doesn't, of course, mean that it was impossible for bands to make a good post-rock album in 2003, or even a classic one - and indeed many did. But what it did mean is that you couldn't expect to get many props simply for playing in a standard, generic post-rock mode, any more than you could expect to impress people by playing generic and uninspired Yes-ripoffs in the late 1970s: by the time The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place came out, post-rock bands - even the founding fathers of the genre - really needed some sort of unique aspect to their sound to distinguish them from their peers.

Explosions In the Sky show little evidence of this on The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place. Supposedly, this is an album about love, but you'd never guess it from the rote repetition of Godspeed You Black Emperor-inspired atmospheres (which have more to do with melancholy desolation than love) on this album. Quite simply, Explosions In the Sky offer nothing beyond vanilla post-rock, long after that ceased to be impressive.

The Earth is Not A Cold Dead Place by Explosions in the Sky is one of those albums that words can describe the music but not the feeling you get while listening to it. This is the album you will listen to when you get your first kiss, your first crush, your first real girlfriend, this is the best album ever. It can make you feel emotions you've never felt about things that have never happened, it can make you cry just because of reading reviews about it, it is the most important post-rock album that has ever been released, to me at least.

Mainly my reviews are long and dwell deep into each song and its contents but I am very tired and thus can only say my emotions regarding each of these amazing tracks. First off, only the names are amazing and heartbreaking, songs like "The Only Moment We Were Alone" and "Your Hand in Mine" are simple names and yet they can tear you up just by staring at the titles.

The album starts with First Breath After Coma, which literally sounds like how you would feel. The slow awakening followed by the urge to live life to the maximum, that is what I would do. The three guitars and pumping drums convey that feeling beautifully and throughout these nine and a half minutes you feel empty yet full, reborn.

The Only Moment We Were Alone is also amazing, however less memorable. I cannot write about every song because most of them make me feel the same way, but that is one amazing feeling and you just have to listen to the album to understand.

The next two songs, Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean, and Memorial, are songs that are beautiful as well but I did not manage to connect to them as well as I did with the other three.

The next and final song is heartbreaking post-rock masterpiece Your Hand in Mine. This is my favorite song in the entire world. It has followed me throughout every time I fell in love, lost a family member, or a friend. The things that it makes you feel are things I have never felt in my life. It's as if the post-rocky riffs combined with simple but powerful drum parts, and that ever-memorable guitar line played in the second part, just make you feel like some sort of god. You feel like you can do anything, like you can climb any mountain and succeed or jump off any building and live (do not try this, because it is only a feeling and will most likely get you killed), it is the most epic post-rock song written.

This album, influenced a bit by bands like Mogwai and in some way even Godspeed You! Black Emperor, is the best album I have ever heard. I don't want to repeat this too many times but this truly brings up so many emotions that you just have to hear it to believe it. Yet again a five star review for yet again what is truly an amazing post rock album.

The latest album from Explosions in the Sky is nice collection of post-rock music. The album is brief for its genre (just over 45 min), and it stays rather safe during that time. The track that stands out most to me is Trembling Hands, with its energetic drumming pushing forward the music. Although the album is certainly sweeping in its scope, there is neither much experimentation nor buildup, and at times it feels more like indie rock with a slight post-rock influence. In any case, the music is relaxing and well-put together. A great album for any post rock fan.

Rating: 7/10

First of all i want to say thank you to explosions in the sky for having done this album that changed my life the first time that i heard it in 2006.

"The earth is not a cold dead place" is a very different to any other work of the band, the sound are the cleanest of the history of the band. the whole disc are a package of mini-operas which begins with a masterpiece called "first breath after coma" , guys, this song are unbelievable, is simply hypnotizing since their first chords and it is the perfect example of which this kind of post rock is not about sadness,in fact is a little bit about melancholy and hope.

Another songs that have this feeling is "Six days at the bottom of the ocean" and "The only moment we were alone" both songs are a great opportunity to enter a very relaxing trip. The rest of the songs continue with the essence of the disc, and i refeer to "Memorial" and "You hand in mine"

"Earth is not a cold dead place" is the perfect example to understand that the music not necessarily needs lyrics, only two guitars, a bass and drums, not more for a musical journey across the space and time!

explosions in the sky is totally different to GYBE (for example) and i don´t think that the prog fans must compare them, even with Sigur ros or tortoise or Mono, maybe with A silver mount zion in essence, and this disc demonstrates it in my opinion

Finally, maybe this disc is not the culminant point of the post rock, but if of explosions in the sky

4 Unforgettable stars

This is a band that I discovered in 2009, though their last album is two years old. EITS is "Post Rock," a style of instrumental music using rock instruments to create compositions that are epic and full of texture, at times atmospheric, at other times loud and blasting.

EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY is very proggish in that it makes you wonder if this would have been the music that some classical composers would have created if they had an electric guitar, a bass and a drumkit.

Instrumental music doesn't get any better than this.

As Rolling Stone magazine reviewer David Fricke wrote, "In this band, a real singer would just get in the way?or get run over."

'Take Care Take Care Take Care' - Explosions In The Sky (8/10)

Four years since the release of their previous album 'All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone', the Texas post-rock band Explosions In The Sky makes a return. Four years is a long time for any active band to wait between albums, so there's been a lot of tension and anticipation as to what the band's work would look like after such a long time on the dressing board. Personally, I have considered Explosions to be the peak of the standard post-rock scene ever since I heard their masterpiece 'The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place', and with this latest album entitled 'Take Care Take Care Take Care', I am hearing many of the same sounds that made this band a winner in my eyes initially. However, what small experiments they have made with their sound often make me wish that that the band could have left out the painful details in the sound.

Emotionally dynamic compositions, drawn out instrumental builds and clean guitar soundscaping is what is most greatly heard here; something that listeners will already have been familiar with, should they have listened to anything this Texas post-rock quartet has released in the past. As with all good bands however, there is certainly a development one can hear in the sound, especially when compared to the minimalism of 'The Earth...'. First among these is the use of much background ambiance and atmospherics, be they strange effects, or dazed vocals droning on behind the guitars. Whether the band was trying to pull a Radiohead and come off a bit experimental in their sound, it is not something that the band orchestrates well here. The distorted feedback of the guitars adds tension to the lighter moments, but many of the electronic nuances feel as if they only distract from the main attraction here; being the guitars. 'Be Comfortable, Creature' only makes the Radiohead comparison more apparent, using weird electronic loops under the guitars, which does work well to some extent, but robs the band of what I consider to be their signature, minimalist style. Another fairly weak aspect of their sound here is the adoption of ambient vocals, as can be heard most frequently on the third track 'Trembling Hands'. Hearing a slightly off-tune 'uh, uh, uh, uh' being sung throughout longer sections of the song can get fairly tiring and really take away from what is otherwise a really great Explosions album.

Of course, the focus here is on the guitars and central composition of the music. Although still with alot of the same mellow sound they have had with earlier work, it does feel in parts as if they are trying to trim the fat off at cut to the point faster. In a genre that's becoming quite notorious for taking ages to say something simple, this works in the band's favour. 'Last Known Surroundings' builds the album up for a minute or so, and then really gets started with an optimistic and beautiful riff over the beating of drums and backing guitars. The 'single' (also a lower point of the album) 'Trembling Hands' takes only a few seconds to start going full force. What makes the music here great though, is that we are given the same beautiful dose of melancholic, soaring attitude that the band has built itself on, but with a greater maturity to it. Things here are not so well intentioned as they were on 'The Earth...' but the music here is filled with beautiful riffs that really gives the impression of love embodied through sound.

A last note worthy of mention for 'Take Care Take Care Take Care' is that the long moments of silence throughout the album, at times taking up to a minute to get back into music during a fade-out. For the music that is here though, Explosions In The Sky is really proving what I thought of them all along; that they are always capable of making something beautiful out of quite little.

'The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place' - Explosions In The Sky (9/10)

Years ago, when I was first introducing myself to the realm of post-rock, it was this album that get popping up wherever I went. While the Texas-based instrumental group Explosions In The Sky by no means innovated the atmospheric and textured style we've since come to know as post-rock, I still believe even now that they are the perfect band to get into the style with. Soaring melodies, beautiful texturing and a straightforward, almost poppy style make them a very approachable band, while still maintaining enough beauty and mystique to be worth many listens. The band's third album, poetically titled 'The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place' is no exception to this, and is without a doubt, the band's greatest acheivement to date. In a world that many artists seem to only be able to see bleakness in, Explosions In The Sky give a very optimistic, atmospheric and ethereal insight into life with this near- perfect masterpiece.

Judging by the title alone, one might guess that this isn't going to be an album of dismal nature, but a more upbeat ordeal, a celebration of life even. Through some relatively simple instrumentation, the band tells stories through the atmospheric, clean tones of their guitars. Simply based on the ambiguous song titles, it's up to the listener to weave epic tales of their own while listening to it, giving a very personal experience that lyrics may have otherwise marred. Equipped only with two guitars, a bass, and some very minimalistic percussion, it is really a feat all it's own that the band can make such a deep emotional journey with such little at their disposal. The conventions of post-rock are all here; soaring melodic guitar work, gradual build ups, and extended compositions. It's not the ingredients that make this a special album, it's the way they are put together.

That being said, there are tracks here that are better than others. 'First Breath After Coma' and 'The Only Moment We Were Alone' are both absolutely stunning compositions, and the way they are played makes the songwriting light up. '6 Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean' maintains a very beautiful atmosphere, but it's not quite as memorable as the first two. Then comes 'Memorial' which could be compared to Radiohead at their most ethereal. It is superbly composed, however it has the least emotional pull of any track here, and is therefore my least loved on the album. Lastly comes 'Your Hand In Mine,' which could very well be the perfect closer to such an album. Really, each track on 'The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place' is not easily distinguished on it's own; the music generally carries the same flow and vibe throughout. While that may be a problem on some other albums with the same issue, it only feels natural here, and lets the beautiful joy build to a climax with the last track.

If every track adhered to the same captivating quality with consistency, I would have no problem calling this a 'perfect album.' While it may have some small flaws, there's no denying that while this was the first post-rock album I discovered, it is and will likely long be my favourite of the genre. The earth is indeed neither cold or dead, and it's music like this that really acknowledges that.

Nice album of shorter EitS songs!

Well, not quite an album, but an EP released in 2005 that this talented and well-recognized American post-rock band offers, and that can also be free to download via their website, so once again, take advantage of this facility and download it, if you like it or not, is your decision.

The thing here is that this EP saw the light after their probably most successful album (The Earth is?) which some people consider one of those masterpieces of post rock. So don't compare, don't pre-judge, the music here follows the same line as their previous albums, the "problem" might be that here you'll find shorter tracks, less elaborated. Featuring eight songs and a total time of 33 minutes, "The Rescue" is an album divided in eight days, I don't really know the story behind them, but I could think that they composed one song per day.

So "Day 1" starts softly with that gentle and emotional guitar sound that a band like Explosions in the Sky offers in all their albums. "Day 2" is even gentler, in moments I imagine the music can be used for telling a story or even a fairytale. One thing sure, is that you can close your eyes and relax, and maybe create some images in your mind. Another thing here is that you'll find some voices creating a special atmosphere, this is worth mentioning because the band don't really use to put voices in their music.

"Day 3" features spoken words and a guitar that in moments reminds me of Sigur Ros. There is a soft but nice atmosphere, though after a couple of minutes you might get bored. "Day 4" is more interesting, since the beginning you can notice a change in the rhythm, the drums appear louder and those emotional guitars return, the music is charming and cool, easy to enjoy.

"Day 5" has fast percussion but slow guitars that together create a cool mixture. The track gradually progresses with the help of new elements, once again, you can relax and receive this charming music. "Day 6" is the only piece that reaches five minutes, and I dare say it is the proggiest of them all. It also has a nice selection of elements that make the song richer of sounds, also there are some nice changes in both, the direction and the feelings.

"Day 7" is not their best, I would actually say that this is simply a "more-of-the-same" track, despite it has a nice acoustic guitar and a Christmas-like sound, I feel it is just another song and that's it. And finally "Day 8", the shortest of the EP, just a nice way to end this mellow album.

You can have a good time, relax and enjoy half an hour of soft post-rock, not bad at all, but obviously not the best example of EitS music. My final grade will be three stars.

Enjoy it!

" Birth & Death Of The Day" starts this 2007 release off with distortion, maelstroms of stormy soundscapes before settling into some pleasant accoustically lead almost uplifting melodies. It really is an absolute gem of a song and is full of atmospheres." Welcome, Ghosts" is a true return to form from Explosions In The Sky and very pleasing on the ear. There is that continued air of drones about this album but is more positive and optimistic than their previous albums. Uplifting is a good adjective. " It's Natural To be Afraid" is another 13 minute drone of swirling sounds, judging by the title of the album and the name of this song, one would assume they are playing about confronting one's own lifetime's demise." Catastrophe and the Cure" really gets the guitars grinding with some excellent drum work. GSYBE similarities again. " So Long Lonesome" leaves you with a sense of relief. Let's face it the album makes for intense listening and is quite draining. But Post Rock/Math Rock can do that. This is their most uplifting album and for that I am going to plug four stars.