Time to get this rolling again. The top 10 list was a disaster
(I'm never doing an end of the year list again, I've already downloaded at least 5 albums from 2009 that would nullify albums I listed here), but time to stop hiding in eternal shame and start posting some kickass music again. And this album right here is some kickass stuff.
65daysofstatic
The Fall of Math
9.2/10
Post-Rock, Math Rock, Electronic/IDM/Glitch
“This negative energy just makes me stronger. We will not retreat. This band is unstoppable!”
Indeed. Thinking logically here, it’s probably difficult for a band to be stopped before they release their debut album, but just in case you had any thoughts of trying, this reclusive group from the UK decided to give us a masterpiece right out of the gate: their magnum opus (though
One Time For All Time is deservedly in the conversation), a phenomenal mixture of post-rock, math rock, and glitchy IDM.
What makes this album so great is the way it’s able to combine elements of the different genres I listed above without ever sounding chaotic or out of control. Particularly for the post-rock genre, it redefined what could be done with the cathartic peak-valley-peak formula that is often maligned by critics of the genre. In my opinion, this belongs right up there with albums such as
Ágætis byrjun,
Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven,
The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, etc. And the album seems like it’s almost aware of that, as the awkwardness sometimes seen on genre-defining records simply isn’t present here. It has a sense of power, from the cryptically apocalyptic opener Another Code Against the Gone to what is probably their best known track, Retreat! Retreat, to the thick, dense riffs of I Swallowed Hard Like I Understood and This Cat Is a Landmine. Aren’t We All Running, the ending track, is so breathtakingly powerful that it nearly knocks the wind out of you.
Also, I can’t let this review end without a quick mention of the drumming on this album, which is simply amazing. What can I say, I’m a sucker for solid drumming, and if I had to pick a specific thing about this album that I liked the most that’d be it. Most of the drumming on the album is done by a human being, there are some moments that feature computer beats but it flows so well that it’s almost indistinguishable. The math rock tendencies of the band really highlight how impressive some of the instrumental technicality is, as often the songs are changing between weird time signatures. If you don’t find yourself air-drumming along to this album at several points, there’s something wrong with you
.
As I said earlier, to me this is by far their best album, although I understand people who consider
One Time For All Time, their second album, to be better.
One Time For All Time is definitely more polished, probably slightly more focused. But it just doesn’t contain the power that
The Fall of Math has. This album grabs you and shakes you, long enough to make you appreciate it but short enough to always leave you wanting a little more. If you haven't heard it, I cannot recommend it enough if you're a fan of any kind of electronic or post-rock music.