Review Summary: It's typically pleasant and enjoyable just like their other records, but one can't escape the been-there-done-that feeling of the record.
Explosions in The Sky exists as one of the most well-known post rock artists for a reason. They are certainly one of the easiest bands in the genre to get into due to their endless beauty, accessibility and the fact that they have yet to make a bad album. However, that doesn’t mean that the band has been remarkably consistent in their efforts either. The biggest problem that Explosions In The Sky always had is that they always manage to beat their formula to death without lots of variety in between. They managed to nearly perfect their formula of beautiful guitar crescendos, compelling percussion and little to no heaviness on
The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place and they managed to add a bit of darkness on
All Of The Sudden, I Miss Everyone for a change. Alas,
The Rescue proves to be no different than any of their other records and leaves the listener wanting the band to expand their horizons into different types of music and ways of conveying emotion.
Despite possessing the been-there-done-that feeling, it still manages to provide a soothing and enjoyable atmosphere throughout the course of its staggeringly short running time. It’s “Day” structure also gives away that the band has yet again made a concept album, but this concept also happens to be lost in the mix of their standard formula. “Day One” starts off the album on the typically slower note with simmering guitar riffs and a stellar uplifting mood, but never actually takes off in terms of any post rock crescendos it’s trying to deliver. The same can be said for the far superior “Day Two,” but it succeeds in guitar work that is more creative than the previous song and even adding God Is An Astronaut esque vocalizing in the mix. “Day Three” also adds a bit more variety to the album with its intriguing samples of a conversation. It adds an extremely cool mood to the song, but one cannot escape the thought of them throwing them in their just for the sake of it. The concept remains unclear throughout and the conversation about fixing the transmission of someone’s car just seems meaningless despite how it adds a great engrossing atmosphere throughout the song. The band adds some great ideas like this, but they never really seem to expand upon them.
The rest of the “Days” aren’t really that much different compared to the songs mentioned above. It's nothing more than the typical post rock fare that the band is known for. Even though they really capitalize on their formula on
The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, their formula on
The Rescue leaves a lot more to be desired. However, simple albums aren’t always a bad thing. A generic and unoriginal album doesn't necessarily mean it’s a bad album in any way. The album is actually quite the pleasant and enjoyable listen if one could look past the fact that we've heard this all before. It’s just that we all know that the band is capable of so much more than what is displayed here which is a tad underwhelming.
