Sounds like…
Some of the most epic and symphonic post-rock made in the last few years.
The review
Somewhere around 2017 I fell hard for long grinding post rock albums in a big way and then after six months I felt like I had completely rinsed the genre clean. I noticed the same power chords, the same set ups and tropes across band after band. I’d probably followed that old age saying ‘you can have too much of a good thing’. As a result, it now takes a lot for me to really stand up and notice a pure post-rock album.
Enter Russian post-rockers Break My Fucking Sky. With their new album ‘BLIND’ they merge the symphonic side of piano and synth strings alongside the epic surge of guitars that you’d expect from a post-rock album. It makes the feature film length album feel like you’ve just taken an epic expedition across the stars and into dramatic pastures new.
What makes Break My Fucking Sky stand out is that nothing sits still and they aren’t afraid of complexity. For this, I’ll take one track – ‘Agnosia’. This centrepiece track clocks in at ten and a half minutes and tells a huge and poignant story melodically. At its heart, there is four-chord rotation but you hardly ever hear just that. If there aren’t three layers of guitar wailing at you (not in unison either) then the bass is given its own section to jam and break free. When the guitars are going full power chord guns blazing, in swoops thick synths and lush piano to underscore the moment. It means that at no point do you just get pure shredding. It is always evolving and changing at least one layer every four bars.
Every track imbues this sense of drama, density and power. Sometimes it’ll be in the piano interludes that mark the change of time or emotion. Sometimes it’ll be the gothic-tinged synths that replicate a sound that’s half choir, half synth pad and a splash of space organ. Then you’ll get a satisfying guitar solo that’s ripped out of a stadium metal performance. The drums never take centre stage but the way they embellish and roll around the chord structures means that your ears are never lulled into a sense of rhythmic boredom. For a post-rock album that’s 100 minutes long – that is critical.
Different tracks give different moods too. I adore the heavy nature of ‘Doomsnight’, the skittish cyberpunk edge of ‘Seven’ and the emergency of ‘Murphy’s Law’ and ‘The Drowned Lake’. Best of all I love the symphonic nature of the opening and closing tracks and how beautifully brutal ‘It was forever. Then it ended’ becomes as it closes out. What also surprised me was that despite that runtime, I never once felt overwhelmed with the hugeness of it all. I was just left with a feeling of awe.
Frankly, everyone that plays in Break My Fucking Sky is a master of their craft and this album and each song allows them all to shine individually without drowning each other out. It is the sign of a band working at their peak and in doing so, they’ve created a masterful album. Now excuse, I’m going to break my fucking speakers.
Recommended track: Agnosia
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Break My Fucking Sky - BLIND
