Review I wrote for a music website:

Explosions in the Sky
Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever

9.3/10

Music is an emotional thing, period. No matter what you are listening to, from Beck to Beethoven, there is emotion in it. However, few artists can actually capture these raw feelings on record and make the listener feel them; or anything for that matter. Its quite ironic that Explosions in the Sky excel so well at this very thing without ever singing a lyric. This Texas quartets epic soundscapes are a breath of fresh air in an industry filled with lyrical banality and constant rehashing.

Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever is the bands second release. Spanning a total time of 49 minuets and 54 seconds, these 6 tracks, all ranging between 6 and 12 minuets in length seem to almost live and breathe with a life of their own. Never has a bands name been so fitting to the music it produces. From quiet and melodic one second to loud and explosive the next.

Along with sudden changes in the tone or mood of each song, goes a change of emotion. One moment the listener may feel relaxed and at peace, the next, a rage of turmoil and chaos…and that's just one song. This is evident in the albums opening track, "Greet Death." The song opens with ambient sounding delayed guitars swelling and building towards something. Forty-eight seconds in and we are greeted with swirling cyclones of distortion and crashing waves of cymbals. It continues to build from there into a wall of feedback and static of apocalyptic proportions. Once the chaos has ended a guitar and bass duo begin playing, almost as if they are the only things left after the musical attack. A new melody surfaces, the second major change in the mood of the song. Once again it continues to build up from the ashes of the explosion before it. While the song structures are rarely the same, emotional highs and lows such as this are present throughout the entire album.

This brings me to the only real flaw; while the band can produce many different sounds and evoke so many different emotions they are essentially using the same formula; and though it works so well…you come to expect it. The same goes for the instruments; through the use of different pedals and drum techniques; each musician can get many different, unique tones to set the mood for each song. However, when it all comes down to it there are still just two guitars, bass, and drums to work with here. Once again... it works, but leaves you wanting something new. And while some post-rock bands incorporate strings, horns, and the occasional electronic element into their music (Do Make Say Think, Godspeed You! Black Emperor) Explosions in the Sky stick to their working formula. Though it is the only flaw, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Many words can be used to describe this album; climatic, beautiful, and chaotic are some that come to mind, but I feel the most important word is "essential." Whether this is your first attempt at getting into the genre, or you're a post-rock veteran, this album is a must own for you and any human being who has ever felt emotion.

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Pick it up!

Excellent review. I am a huge fan of post-rock (GY!BE in particular), and though I have heard many tracks by Explosions in the Sky, I have never gotten around to buying an album. Now I know which album to start with.

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"i think that it's brainless to assume that making changes to your window's view will give a new perspective" -DCFC

Everything they have ever released is top-noth, though the weakest is the score they did for the friday night lights soundtrack. I'm working on hunting down a copy of "how strange, innocence" at the moment but its only on vinyl and there were only 300 copies released.

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Pick it up!