THE FLOWERS OF HELL

Second album from the UK pos-rock combo, this time enhanced with a bunch of guest and recorded over both sides of the Atlantic. Despite the vast line-up, apparently only Ruth Barlow left the band, but given the messy instrument credit list, it's rather hard to tell if she's been replaced or not. They've been playing so many different tools, probably each other's, that it looks like an orgy, but sadly this isn't anything close to wild stuff, on the contrary. In either case, FOH uses another folk-type of artwork for their digipak, but it's definitely not any folkier than their typical post-rock of their debut release.

But CHOHW isn't an exact carbon copy of its predecessor, it has its own particularities, namely the phantasmagorical and aptly-named Forest Of Noise, where there are orchestral enhancements. There are other atypical traits when comparing to its older brother, but again nothing groundbreaking or even a tad refreshing that would add a bit to the genre's well flogged-to-death clichés. Unless you're a total post-rock nutcase, FoH is nothing to write home about, but it's one more building block to Babel's unending tower

Another one of these Post Rock bands built on the GYBE8 sound, but this one is from the UK. Their debut album sports an Espers folk-like artwork, but it's nothing to do with the excellent American prog folk group. Indeed this octet develops a rather conservative Constellation label type of post rock, with slightly cheesier ambiances, partly due to the brass instruments, especially the Spanish-sounding trumpet. Lead by Greg Jarvis' (who also co-produces), the eight members are all multi-instrumentalists, except for Abi Fry with her viola. Instruments range from ebow, melodica, sax, saw, flute, harmonica, cornet, and a tad of vocals.

Ten tracks, ranging from the almost 1-min long Radiator to the 13-mins Opt out (not a bad idea, actually), but it's really nothing you haven't heard 100 times if you've investigated post rock for almost 15 years like I have. Don't get me wrong, if you're in that kind of sonic realm, this is bound to please you, because it's got all the typical post rock elements and doesn't add anything to the genre. In occasions, there are bits that sound a bit raga-like, namely the aptly titled Foreign Lands. The vocals are mostly limited to the choirs of Joy Of Sleeping, a very cheesy track The repetitive/minimalist ambiances and riffs are not exactly exuberant, but no more depressing than most of the other groups delving into the genre. This is really up to you to see if you really want to investigate FOH, but if you've got an extended post-rock collection, you'd have to be a monomaniac to still be hungry to discover second or third generation groups like this one, especially if they don't bring something different or reinvent it.