Scheduled Release Date: 14th February 2011 on Rock Action Records
It's hard for me to become attached to several bands at the same time that are placed in the post-rock genre, just because it's so hard for me to understand which emotions I want their music to make me feel. When listening to masterpieces such as Godspeed's perfect soundtrack to the end of the world, F sharp A sharp Infinity or Mono's hauntingly beautiful Hymn To The Immortal Wind, I know what I am getting myself into, for better or for worse. For Mogwai, however, I seem to be in quite a conundrum, as when listening to their fantastic debut Mogwai Young Team I am in confusion as to when I listen to the second, slightly poppy sounding record Come On Die Young because they sound like two different records from two totally different bands. With Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, I was reminded of this same problem only on a much smaller scale, as in each track really didn't sound like the Mogwai I knew at all...for better or for worse.
The record starts off with a classic post-rock sounding track that wouldn't go amiss on an Explosions In The Sky record. There's plenty of melodic guitars weaving throughout the track followed by distorted sounds and with a small but rewarding build up, this track is a great example of the wonderful musicianship this band has and is an overall brilliant start to album. The next track Mexican Grand Prix caught me off guard quite a bit as I was heavily reminded of a track i'd heard on Come On Die Young, which I must say worried me somewhat, but to my surprise the track didn't really fall below par with it's whispered electronic vocals, which added a nice touch to the overall song, although with the continuous sound effects running over the top of everything, it does get quite repetitive.
The first thought that popped into my head when Rano Pano played was My Bloody Valentine and the ginormous amount of distortion that this track brought to my unready ears. The overall sound was quite a relaxing dreamscape feel and I actually felt calm and enjoyed the nice heavy addition of distortion. The next few tracks didn't really stand out for me, they just seemed to pass by straight away, although Letters To The Metro gave me a break from the quick rush of San Pedro with it's soft, mellow feel throughout, which was quickly diminshed with the grungy sounds of distorted bass coming through in George Square Thatcher Death Party.
The next song was instantly one of my favourites, due to the wonderfully uplifting sounds it seemed to ooze from it's hidden beauty on the record, there's even a short distorted guitar solo added right before the wave of emotion sweeps you and lands you back on track for a total change in direction with Too Raging To Cheers, which is a sorrow sounding but beautiful addition to the record. The mournful violin is magnificently placed, but unfortunately it only stays for a short while, which was a shame because that was one of the main highlights of the track.
The last song You're Lionel Richie really did catch me off guard as it begins with a beautiful entwining of twin guitar playing until halfway through the song it fades and into...massive guitar and bass distortion followed by crushing drums. And all of a sudden i'm listening to a sludge metal record. Before I knew it the song slowly started to deplete in sound and the record was over.
The way Mogwai can jump from post-rock sounding landscape pieces to relaxing ambience, grunge rock to sludge metal is quite a marvellous talent, and they do pull it off quite brilliantly. The relationship between the guitar melodies are fantastic and the use of synths added nice textures to the overall sound of individual songs is great too. Although on my first listen, the second half feels much more dominating than the first half, but it's still a very decent record and a nice addition to the ever-growing catalogue of post-rock.
8/10
Thomas Eccles
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