Kiahdaj's Music Review Thread

[GlassJustice]

Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-earth

 

dear god,this is my favorite album of all time,I hope you love it,you glorious bastard.

[Guest]

Bump

 

Hurry up and review Metropolis pt. 2, assbutt

 

You've left an audience wanting and I won't have it

[Kiahdaj]

Ugh.

I've been hesitant to try writing another review, because I have some real writer's block when it comes to how exactly I should go about structuring the reviews. I've been considering it more lately, and figured I might try writing one or two, and if I was satisfied with them, I'd post them.

I thought about renaming the thread to "Kiahdaj's Thank You Scientist Review Thread" for fun.

 

Anyway, we'll see. I would like to get better at writing them, after all. Although I can say, it'll probably be at least a few reviews before I review something I'm not as familiar with, like a recommendation. It's definitely easier to review music that you know very well.

[Brassow]

Damn Enny! Necromancy should be against the rules!

[Guest]

I'll take a million strikes for the greater good that is this thread, tyvm

 

 

Yeah man, good to hear though. I was wondering why it was never updated, totally get the writer's block thing. Just didn't think you took it that seriously, or whatever.

 

Oh, one more for when you get around to it, you should do Devin Townsend's newer album because I haven't heard it yet and I need to be persuaded/dissuaded.

[Kiahdaj]

Sure, I could give that a shot. But I warn you, I'm not exactly a Devin Townsend fan. I mostly just like Sky Blue. With that said, he's one of the artists that deserves a relisten in my mind. I think I might be able to at least tell if a fan would like it though. We'll see.

[Kiahdaj]

This Will Destroy You — This Will Destroy You

 

http://thiswilldestroyyou.net/img/discography/this-will-destroy-you.jpg[/img]

Year: 2008

Genre: Post-Rock

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This Will Destroy You's titular release is one of the very first albums that introduced me to the wonderful world of Post-Rock, so it is a fitting first of the genre to review, for me.

 

The album takes an overall fairly stereotypical approach to Post-Rock, using the formulaic slow, thematic instrumental builds to a climax accompanied by harsh drones—sometimes to calm and repeat. While this album doesn't bring anything new to the table for the genre, it can still be appreciated for what it is; not all albums need to be innovative to be revered. What this album is, is simplistic beauty. It is a bit of an emotional journey. The melodies are simple, the rhythm is simple, and the structure is simple. It is not fast-paced and exciting; it is slow and atmospheric. This album requires patience in order to enjoy. Admittedly, due to a frequent lack of much variation and fairly predictable dynamics, it may require more than many are willing to give. However, if given a chance, to those who are receptive, this album can prove to be a quite beautiful, powerful piece of work at times.

 

The first song begins with a layer of drones, holding and building gradually for the first minute and a half, before a nice, mellow melody is introduced along with some quirky electronic sounds. I enjoy the use of electronic drums for this part, as it provides a great juxtaposition with the introduction of the acoustic set a couple of minutes later. The production on the drums throughout this album is quite satisfying, and this moment in particular stands out a lot for me. A great mood-setter. It continues on in the same fashion until you are hit with a sudden wall of sound, composed of shrieking guitar drones; this creates a quite satisfying texture, the likes of which can be heard several more times throughout the album. After it settles, you are left with a drum-led section of building energy that gives a strong feeling of determination. This first track is of the most impactful and significant to me. It is quite a good progression and building of emotion.

 

The second track, "Villa Del Refugio", is a track consisting entirely of humming sounds that build slowly, slowly, slowly, for 7 minutes, growing more and more gravelly as time goes on. While there is some pleasant sound here, this track is an exaggerated example of the kind of slowness that this album has, at times. I personally skip this one every time.

 

Next up is "Threads", a second contender for best track on the album. This track evolves from a pretty, uplifting melody that gives a sense of togetherness—perhaps the effort of a community. From there it climbs up and down a bit with more guitars droning around the pleasant lead melody, until another satisfying, textured climax.

 

The rest of the album continues on in a fairly similar, albeit not always as well-done fashion—the song structure bringing little surprise. The rest of the tracks feel a bit more boring than the first and third, and for me are often marked more by particular moments than the entire song as a whole. That's not to say that these parts should simply be skipped to, as, while it may feel a bit slow at times, the atmosphere created by the slower parts provide important context for the rest of it; no part can simply stand on its own in the same way as it can, properly established.

If you can lose yourself in this album in such a way that you are not concerned with time, or whether something is "interesting" or "exciting" enough, then it can be a very pretty, perhaps emotional experience. It can also serve as good background music, as it is vocal-less, and doesn't have as much of a chance to be boring, if you're not giving it your full attention.

 

 

7/10

 

 

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By the way, Vampire approached me with the idea of both reviewing the same album, and that sounded like an interesting idea, so we ended up deciding on this one. So expect a review from him in this thread fairly soon.

[Vampire]

This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You (2008)

This Will Destroy You is a post-rock band from San Marcos, Texas formed in 2004. The bands name was originally supposed to be sourced from a self-titled song, but they decided not to create the song quoting that it would be in poor taste. They have left the band name the same as an attention grabber. They find it funny how sometimes people judge them based on their name before they have even listened to the music they produce.

 

Generally I feel like this album does nothing that I dislike. If you wanted to give someone an introduction to post-rock, this is probably that album. This album doesn't do anything new for the genre, and therefore doesn't do anything that would alienate the people who already enjoy it. There are some themes through the album that are coordinated with the titles that add some emotional feeling towards the long drones and there are some tracks on this album that stand out to me. As with any post-rock, if droning over melodic guitar isn't your thing, you might want to steer clear of this genre. That being said though, post-rock has some great atmospherics. "Threads", "They Move On Tracks of Never-Ending Light", and "Burial On The Presidio Banks" stand out to me in this album. I will be giving my views of some of the tracks and then wrap up at the end.

 

The first track "A Three-Legged Workhorse" very much reflects the feelings of going through the work day. Tension builds up gradually as new instruments are introduced and the sound becomes more agressive. Tension continues to build until it peaks and falls back into melodic guitar over the amazing drums. This continues until it slowly starts to build itself up again as it nears the end of the track. I view this as the feelings of a work day and the peak getting off work and getting home to relax. This relaxation only lasts until you remember as the day crawls to an end that tomorrow you have to do it all over again.

 

"Threads" is one of the better tracks on this album. It is just such a lovable track. The drums really do a lot to support the guitar in this entire album and "Threads" really shows that. This song in the later half has some electronic sounds added in that stand out and make the song feel a little different.

 

"Leather Wings" starts out with strong drums and it feels like a song about thinking to me. If I had to choose a song that best embodied me debating choices, this is about as close as you can get. I can imagine someone sitting alongside a river pondering choices while listening to this. The drums once again carry this song to the place it needs to go.

 

The next song is "The Mighty Rio Grande". This song has a very evanescent feel to it compared to what else has been on the album so far. There hasn't been very much cymbal in the tracks before this, and it stands out in this track.

 

I feel like "They Move On Tracks of Never-Ending Light" then stands out as the best track on the album. It is very atmospheric and melodic. It is a little different from the other songs on the album. It shys away from a lot of the droning that is the norm on the other tracks.

 

The final song on the album is "Burial On The Presidio Banks". This song very much is an outro song. It feels like a farewell. It's the instrumental equivalent of "if you must go, keep me in your memories." It ties up the end of the album very well and brings together all of the themes throughout the album. This song works to pull you back in and make you want to relisten to the entire album over again.

 

Overall I feel like this is a great post-rock album. Although they bring nothing new to the table, they are a great example. The way their songs are formed and some of the tones that are used make it an interesting album to listen to. They are a perfect example of the genre and the album is definately worth a listen. I am glad that Kiah brought them to my attention and I will be listening to more of their albums in the future.

 

 

7/10