2008 Woodie Awards
This Will Destroy You cuts successful debut
Music Review
Andrew Lane-Lawless
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
With a post-rock sound, instrumental guitar interplay and name that sounds ominous in a vague and ambiguous way, you would think This Will Destroy You, the band behind the debut album of the same name would think twice about their identity.
It's hard to go more than a few moments without having Explosions in the Sky splash across your mind when listening to This Will Destroy You, and in truth, they emulate their predecessors quite well. The album was even produced by John Congleton, who worked with Explosions in the Sky on their most recent album "All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone."
There are quite a few key differences between This Will Destroy You and their predecessors. Whereas Explosions in the Sky keep things firmly rooted in the tradition of post-rock, icy guitars drenched in reverb, muscular snare drumming and powerful reverberating bass, This Will Destroy You dare to step outside of their self-constructed box.
The opening track, "A Three-Legged Workhorse," unfurls itself and reveals a simple guitar line over a processed, almost hip-hop beat. At times these multi-genre elements work quite well, but in the opener, they call out their presence too forcefully. Still, the drums, which make up half the beat, diverge and the song takes on the more typical post-rock format, roaring into a climatic sequence of heavy swells before disappearing into oblivion.
The band makes no concessions. The sound strives for epic proportions and if you want brisk music to keep your mind from wandering, this album isn't for you. Just listen to the sprawl of "The Mighty Rio Grande" and you can hear a band taking its time to craft its tunes. Electronic blips and fuzzed noise cloak the landscapes they portray, but only as a means of creating dissonance. This Will Destroy You vows to keep its listeners on their toes.
"Threads" wastes no time following a snaking guitar line that outlines a major chord progression. The sound expands without ever leaving the safety of the progression and the song snowballs into a louder and more dynamic effect. These songs never burst to climatic moments, or completely peter out; instead they roll past like waves, leaving the spreading wake with the knowledge that another one is coming.
If the band set out to capture a sound-scape, unmistakable in songs like the brilliant closer "Burial on Presidio Banks," then their album was a success. For moments, the music catches the raw majesty that seems to be at the center of the post-rock tradition. It's early in their careers and quite likely they'll look to refine the sound they began here, but for now, This Will Destroy You can at least step out of the shadow of Explosions in the Sky to cast their own sounds for future generations to admire.
It's hard to go more than a few moments without having Explosions in the Sky splash across your mind when listening to This Will Destroy You, and in truth, they emulate their predecessors quite well. The album was even produced by John Congleton, who worked with Explosions in the Sky on their most recent album "All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone."
There are quite a few key differences between This Will Destroy You and their predecessors. Whereas Explosions in the Sky keep things firmly rooted in the tradition of post-rock, icy guitars drenched in reverb, muscular snare drumming and powerful reverberating bass, This Will Destroy You dare to step outside of their self-constructed box.
The opening track, "A Three-Legged Workhorse," unfurls itself and reveals a simple guitar line over a processed, almost hip-hop beat. At times these multi-genre elements work quite well, but in the opener, they call out their presence too forcefully. Still, the drums, which make up half the beat, diverge and the song takes on the more typical post-rock format, roaring into a climatic sequence of heavy swells before disappearing into oblivion.
The band makes no concessions. The sound strives for epic proportions and if you want brisk music to keep your mind from wandering, this album isn't for you. Just listen to the sprawl of "The Mighty Rio Grande" and you can hear a band taking its time to craft its tunes. Electronic blips and fuzzed noise cloak the landscapes they portray, but only as a means of creating dissonance. This Will Destroy You vows to keep its listeners on their toes.
"Threads" wastes no time following a snaking guitar line that outlines a major chord progression. The sound expands without ever leaving the safety of the progression and the song snowballs into a louder and more dynamic effect. These songs never burst to climatic moments, or completely peter out; instead they roll past like waves, leaving the spreading wake with the knowledge that another one is coming.
If the band set out to capture a sound-scape, unmistakable in songs like the brilliant closer "Burial on Presidio Banks," then their album was a success. For moments, the music catches the raw majesty that seems to be at the center of the post-rock tradition. It's early in their careers and quite likely they'll look to refine the sound they began here, but for now, This Will Destroy You can at least step out of the shadow of Explosions in the Sky to cast their own sounds for future generations to admire.
Be the first to comment on this story