THOSE WHO TELL THE TRUTH SHALL DIE, THOSE WHO TELL THE TRUTH SHALL LIVE FOREVER

On this album, the listener can hear a band that is well on their way to making a masterpiece album, but is not quite there yet. Those Who Tell the Truth... contains much of the substance we expect from EitS, but overall the compositions are not as developed as they will become on "The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place".

Now, in my opinion there is not a single rock band in this world with a more pleasant and subtle sense of melody and dynamic than Explosions in the Sky. This strength is evident in every song on this record. However, this album sees the band falling into a more "loud, soft, loud, soft" pattern that one usually associates with Mogwai.

The album starts out with near silence at the beginning of "Greet Death", which seconds later instantaneously explodes into a passage of a slow, heavy riff and very loud guitar layers. The noise becomes more and more intense, until it stops just as quickly as it started, only to slowly build up again. This is a prime example of this group's ability to work beautifully with extreme poles of musical dynamics.

The 2nd track, "Yasmin the Light", is in my opinion the best song on this record. Never before has a band made playing so fast sound so mellow. This song undulates through dynamics and layers. Each member of the band adds just a little touch to each section to make it something special.

Other key moments in this album include the drum introduction at roughly 3 min into "Have You Passed Through this Night?" and the visceral explosion near the end of "A Poor Man's Memory". Explosions in the Sky have a keen ability to create a lot of music with very few notes, which may turn off many prog fans. I, however, think it is brilliant, so I give this album 4 stars. It is very strong, but cannot match their next release.