Review Summary: This Album is Incredible & I am No Longer Afraid That The World is a Beautiful Place... Could Ever Disappoint
The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid To Die managed to be in the top 5 GOAT/Twinkle Daddy/post-rock kings echelon with only a couple EPs under their belt, and they were certainly destined for disaster with their long awaited debut full length. Most bands in the scene would have broken up by now, or at least majorly dropped in quality, but the guys of The World is a Beautiful Place And… managed to keep the dream alive and stay not broken up long enough to record ten songs that would become
Whenever, If Ever, and it's a very fortunate thing because this album is just as good, if not better than their previous body of work.
Whenever, If Ever has The World is a Beautiful Place And… boogie down in a more post-rock manner than before, but not in the traditional ten minute song way. They still worship the all mighty build-up, but in a more Campbell's soup condensed sort of way.
Whenever, If Ever is a cool 35 minutes, and The World is a Beautiful Place And… never waste a moment as songs rise and fall, wax on and wax off, and it all flows as one big piece. I don't know if these songs will translate live as the emo kids won't be able to get down to most of them, but as a studio album, it's an incredible experience.
A few traditional emo bangers are well placed in between the more post-rock oriented tunes, like "Heartbeat in The Brain," "Pictures of a Tree That Doesn't Look Okay," and "Getting Sodas." Songs like the impossible not to head bang to "Fightboat," and "The Layers of Skin We Drag Around" show the more upbeat emo side of the band, with their jangly and catchy guitar chords and riffs offset by the #rare, but also very well placed keyboard licks. The World is a Beautiful Place And… forgo traditional verse/chorus/verse song structures on most of the songs, instead going for slow burn, build-ups that escalate into bombastic sections that serve as the catchy, sing-along equivalent to business as usual choruses. And then there's the unreal "Gig Life," whose slow acoustic beginning coupled with somber, hard hitting lyrics explodes into one of the best choruses the genre has to offer. TWIABP's ability to make songs stand out, and also flow effortlessly together is highly impressive, and allows
Whenever, If Ever to be an exhilarating and fulfilling listen.
If you don't already dig the Reece's Peanut Butter Cup that is twinkly emo mixed with post-rock, then this album is not going to change your feelings on this band, or the scene as a whole.
Whenever, If Ever simply serves as one of the finest pieces of music in the genre, and also to reaffirm The World is a Beautiful Place And… as post-rock prophets, or twinkle daddies, or whatever you want to call these geniuses of emotive music.
