Hamburg, Germany's post-rock geniuses Collapse Under The Empire have returned with their latest full-length effort Shoulders & Giants and it is, without a doubt, one of the best post-rock albums that I have heard in quite some time. It is well known that Collapse Under The Empire are one of the best post-rock bands currently in the genre, and Shoulders & Giants proves this true. The music on Shoulders & Giants does not have the same post-rock sound that fans of the genre are used to. Collapse Under The Empire has taken a different approach with this album than on their previous releases. The sounds revealed on Shoulders & Giants are filled with epic guitar tones and many more electronic elements than any other Collapse Under The Empire release. Although a lot of the album has a sad and melancholic feel to it, the careful blending of the instruments also gives it sections of happiness and light. While Collapse Under The Empire create beautiful rhythms and melodies, this is not their main focus. Instead, the genius duo focus on telling stories through their music and intend on the listener to drift off into a beautiful journey of sound.
One very important thing to note about Collapse Under The Empire is that with each release, the band progresses and matures for the better. After hearing previous releases, I always say to myself "this is Collapse Under The Empire at their very best", and the same thing goes for Shoulders & Giants. This album is easily the band at their best, but then there is the album after this, which will most likely top it, just as every new release from the duo has topped the previous one. Shoulders & Giants opens with the track 'Shoulders', which is a mixture of dark guitar work and clean electronic drum beats that would fit perfectly in a dubstep or industrial type track. The song progresses into a full blown guitar track, packed with intricate drumming (muted and non-muted) and unique electronic blips. 'Shoulders' is a great opener which sets the tone for the rest of the album. The next track 'Giants', begins with very developed electronic drumming that sounds similar to rolling or marching drum work. Throughout the track, the drumming is accompanied by guitar and keys and fully develops into a hard-hitting track, while still maintaining a sense of calm. The first true melancholic sounding track on the album is 'There's No Sky', which clocks in at six minutes and twenty-three seconds. The track is very relaxing and begins with a dense combination of keys, guitars, and electronic sounds. As the song progresses, the drums kick in at full speed while the keys and guitars still manage to keep that relaxed feel. 'The Last Reminder' follows in the same footsteps as 'There's No Sky', beginning with calm keys and guitars, which then leads into some very developed percussion. The track eventually changes its tempo, creating a faster track, and it is easily the fastest track on the entire album.
'The Sky Is The Limit' is the longest track on the entire album, clocking in at six minutes and fifty-six seconds. Although the track is very long in duration, it manages to keep the listeners' attention throughout. The guitar work changes rapidly throughout the track and leaves the listener wondering what's next. The drums also hold somewhat of a consistent rhythm the whole way through, which is different from the other tracks. Track six, 'Disclosure', begins with looped pianos followed by very distorted, electronically driven drums. The tracks brings to mind hip-hop instrumentals reminiscent of DJ Shadow or Massive Attack and could be enjoyed by fans of both hip-hop and rock alike. This is a very dark and mysterious track, and would have to go down as one of my favorites on the entire album. 'After The Thaw' and 'Incident' are very upbeat tracks, both filled with intricate drumming patterns and melodic guitar work. 'Days Of Freezing' is the album's most relaxed track, which serves as sort of an interlude between the heavier tracks that come before and after it. The final track, 'A Riot Of Emotion', follows a similar technique to the majority of the tracks, with unique electronics, clean guitar work, and very complex drumming, and is a great way to end the album.
Overall, Collapse Under The Empire have out done themselves again with the release of Shoulders & Giants. This album is not only an incredible musical journey, but the entire thing was created by a duo. This takes a great amount of skill, creativity, and focus. The great thing about Shoulders & Giants is that it is Collapse Under The Empire's most stripped down and mature album to date, and contains some of music's most basic elements. These elements include guitars, drums, and electronics thrown in to add texture and flow. All in all, Collapse Under The Empire keep progressing and proving, with each release, that they are some of the best musicians in the post-rock genre. I highly recommend this album to post-rock fans, but more importantly to fans of music in general. Shoulders & Giants is a keeper and will easily go down in the books as one of my favorite albums of the decade.
Check out the music video for the track 'Disclosure' off of Collapse Under The Empire's Shoulders & Giants:
Check out the track 'Incident' off of Collapse Under The Empire's Shoulders & Giants:
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