Review Summary: A splendid deconstruction of the post-rock genre and one of the best moments of 2014.
Some post-rock bands may seem to sometimes comfort themselves in a typical structure that as been proven efficient for a while now. Sure, post-rock has standard codes and by appropriating these, a bunch of bands manages to make nothing less than little miracles. Others however, make a point to innovate and deconstruct the post-rock genre by giving it a new dimension or a new energy. Whether it’s Maserati with their energic drumming and their entertaining, almost club-alike music, or Russian Circles and their ability to swim on the line of post-rock and post-metal, a lot of bands impose themselves with a determination to transcend the post-rock genre by creating something like post-post-rock (no, it’s not a thing). After the decisive Imprecari Island in 2011, Barrows confirms us that they are one of those bands with Red Giant.
We get this idea at the end of Nebula, the first of the five-track record, when the spaced out delayed guitar meets the ultra heavy and loud bass and drum riffs. It’s less this climax than the process leading to it that is interesting; after a dark and gloomy guitar intro, a bass-driven groovy riff quickly follows. Even with the multiple weird musical changes that may confront the listener at first, the doom and gloomy ambiance that coats the entire album ties it all together and gives it its special kind of post-metal feel.
The eponymous track starts with a loud metal riff with a much more in-your-face result. All the instruments are much more blended in a typical classic rock structure and a classic metal sound. They indeed use the melodic leitmotiv of post-rock, but with some heavier metal riffs (check out Red Giant about halfway through when the two guitars splendidly respond one to another over a standard 4/4 rhythm section). While a bunch of post-metal band gives more into the stoner/sludge approach, Barrows never hesitate to compose high pitch and faster riffs that gives them almost a heavy metal sound that clearly distinct them from other bands alike.
Another thing that struck us while listening to Red Giant is the variety of effects use both on guitar and bass (from wah wah to delay or flanger) to give them a weird sound with psychedelic influences at some point (like Black Hole for instance). This is the shortest song on the album and it focuses on a peculiar bass sound and a toms-driven drumming that structure the song from start to finish. At the same time, it’s one of the most interesting moment of the album but it can serve as an interlude or an opener for the amazing Wormhole that comes next.
With the long compositions and the often separation of the rhythmic and melodic sections of the band, Barrows use more than often a progressive rock approach in the structure of their songs. Whether it’s in Black Hole where the loud bass clash with the high pitch guitars or in Wormhole with the groovy and melodic bass line with just background guitar, the rhythm and melodic section not simply oppose in sounding (which is the debt of post-rock to the progressive rock genre) but in the very composition of each and every instrument. You can easily separate guitar, bass and drum in most songs and depending which instrument you decide to focus on, you’ll hear the song totally differently, but always driven by a great sense of melody and composition that lives within every member of the band.
The Long closer song, Beyond, uses a much more post-rock inspired structure, though with a dark or doom atmosphere and a controlled explosion at the end that wrap up the album in a way that may seem conventional, but totally in the spirit of the rest of the record. Barrows delivers indeed from start to finish and leaves us with the impression that Red Giant is not only one of the great post-rock records of 2014, but the confirmation of a band that, from now on, will have to be closely followed by the contemporary instrumental music fans.
