Toundra - IV.

I picked it up after seeing a review on RateYourMusic, and it really, really delivered. As far as Post-Rock, I preferred this to Godspeed You! Black Emperor's new release (which is also fairly strong).

Here's the review I read:

More than standard post-rock

So first off, I'd never heard of this band before I came across this new release of theirs. I saw the label post-rock / post-metal and hoped the album would not be a standard post-rock album, but dared to experiment a bit more. As a bonus, the album cover looked pretty interesting and I was pretty positive the record could contain some good quality music. This stirred my interest in the record, and here we are with my review of the album, after I've listened to it probably 3 or 4 times.

One thing this band has certainly achieved with this album is cohesion. All of these tracks flow into one another very nicely, that makes it pretty easy to go through this album right off the bat. So it starts off on a pretty positive note. The weakest song is probably the first track, Strelka, which comes over as a bit antithetical, because of what I just said about a strong start. The song isn't by any means lacking or bothering, but it's probably the least interesting on the album. The nice flow of the entire release makes up for the slow start very nicely though.

Something else I liked a lot, besides the flow of the album, is the use of different instruments. (On the track Viesca, most notably) Post-rock bands tend to keep using the same formula for their music and therefore, a lot of records in the genre these days, can be pretty tedious. (Like I mentioned at the beginning of this review) In comparison, Toundra manage to stay within their genre, but instead of completely milking the standard sound, find a way to be really inventive. There are still plenty of beautiful moments to be found, so this is a pleasant surprise to my ears.

I guess I'd really recommend this album to anyone who's looking for something fresh within the post-rock genre and to people who are post-rock fans in general. The standout moments here are definitely found in the songs Qarqom, Lluvia, Belenos and Viesca. The transitions between the first 3 tracks I just named there are incredible. Plus, Viesca features violins and horns!

A definite listen here in 2015 if you ask me! Hope it gets more recognition as we get further into the year.