This Will Destroy You - Another Language

‘Another Language’ opener ‘New Topia’ is quite starkly different to their early work, losing much of the dark overtones in favour of a gentle build and furious, ecstatic release. From a distance, it’s the kind of no-holds-barred heavy rock sound that Mogwai made their own, but This Will Destroy You take it a step further, pushing the whole recording into distortion - one would assume for aesthetic reasons - thus making the track force a reaction in the listener. ‘Dustism’ and ‘Memory Loss’ however could be tracks from their brilliant, self-titled debut, but many of the tracks, for example ‘God’s Teeth’, ‘Mother Opiate’ and ‘The Puritan’ instead take a much more ambient or shoegazing path, comparable to their wonderful if oddly-named American contemporaries Hammock.

Continuing in a similar vein to ‘New Topia’ are standout tracks ‘Serpent Mound’ and ‘War Prayer’, the latter closing with a stunning drone lead part layered over apocalyptic percussion. ‘Invitation’ is another good example of this sonic theme, starting with a driving snare pattern and mellow keys before suddenly introducing an intense, distorted guitar line. Fast forward a minute and the percussion has been driven into the red until it clips, but with it has come the clean synth tones, keeping the track on a delicate knife edge between grating noise and gorgeous avant pop.

Tags: This Will Destroy You, Reviews, Album Reviews