This Will Destroy You
This Will Destroy You
2008

For whatever reason, post-rock can be terribly depressing and often moves slower than a fat chick in gym class. Yet somehow, This Will Destroy You’s self titled full-length debut avoids all that in likely one of the best post-rock albums I’ve heard in years.

Much like Explosions in the Sky, they focus entirely on instrumentation with no vocals and a minimalist sound scape, but the comparison stops there. There is build up in these songs and they are not going to challenge Dragon Force for a speed record, but as far as post-rock goes, the precision and the focus this band exhibits really sets a new bar. Every song has it’s place, nothing sounds out of sync and while the songs compliment and flow into one another, nothing ever sounds repetitious or dull.

The recording itself is impeccable. With over-dubbed and audio loop happy bands like Radiohead drowning out the instruments in favour of dyslexic mumblings, it’s nice to actually hear musicians play. The guitars are thick and weighty, the drums are heavy and sharp and the occasional background texture is subtle and never overpowering. Everything is clear and crisp without exception.

Be forewarned, this album isn’t for the developmentally challenged that need every inch of audio punched to the nine, but with that in mind it still hits hard enough and does it frequently enough to make This Will Destroy You stand out from the pack. There’s no filler, no waste; just one of the best post-rock albums to come along in a very long time.

Stream A Three-Legged Workhorse, Threads and Burial On The Presidio Banks (myspace)

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Bring Me Your Love
City And Colour
2008

Snicker inducing titles aside, Dallas Green’s second full length solo effort is a step up from his last foray away from the St. Catherines, Ontario harcore / screamo act, Alexisonfire.

Where as City and Colour’s first album largely revolved around acoustic guitar with some backup piano, Bring Me Your Love injects a lot more variety and texture into the songs, thanks to more instrumentation and some assistance from Gordon Downie (The Tragically Hip) and a few of the boys from Attack in Black.

The lyrics can be a bit sentimental and squishy at times but also poignant, like Body In A Box which chimes in with “it’s like a man’s best party only happens when he dies” in between muted organ and harmonica notes. The composition of the songs in general are strong and varied, but strangely feel a little lacking in portions. Dallas has a great voice to be sure, but it would have been nice to hear a bit more variety in the vocal section considering the people he’s collaborating with. Sleeping Sickness features Gordon Downie’s distinct vocals, and while I know this is Dallas’s show, it would have been nice to hear more of The Hip’s front man singing through. Likewise, I know all the Attack in Black crew can sing because they proved it on their last album (The Curve of the Earth), so it’s a little odd to not even hear a recognizable peep out of them. You can really hear their influence on The Girl, likely one of the most stand out songs on the album, but it’s hard to recognize without pulling out the CD booklet and looking at the credits. Maybe it’s a good thing that they blend in so well, but it just feels like there could have been more.

All things considered, it’s a solid album and while it doesn’t do anything astounding, Bring Me Your Love is definitely worth checking out.

Watch Waiting… from City and Colour’s Bring Me Your Love:

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Mother fucking Ninja Pirates. That’s right. This game has it all, including the aforementioned unholy union that basically sidesteps one of the most heated arguments in all of internet history. And when those ninja pirates board your ship and you and some buddies stab their faces off with swords and shields, you will know this game is the pinnacle of awesome. Castle Crashers is an old school beat em’ up. Think Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and that Dungeons and Dragons arcade game where you needed to kill that damned troll with fire. There’s nothing terribly new here, but the game takes all the great parts of old and adds some new twists to revitalize what is quite possibly one of the most unappreciated genres of the past 5 - 10 years. The art style is absolutely gorgeous, with sharp clean, and colourful 2d animation and the music, a mix of techno/ambient/industrial beats (which can all be found for download here) just adds to the unique and quirky style. Not to mention half the guys in this game know how to headbang.

As you progress through the game you gain experience, collect gold, score princesses, find pets and discover new weapons to beat your enemies to a bloody pulp with. Gold can be spent in random shops, pets do all kinds of random things (like bite the heads off your enemy!) and experience levels you up. You get points every level to invest in Strength (+damage), Magic (+magic damage/area of effect), Defense (+health/armor) and Agility (+speed/bow). While this looks great at first, it became pretty clear that the game is skewed toward magic. If you invest in your strength, everything 1m in front of you should be dead. Defense should increase a players ability to revive a fellow castle crasher. Agility should make you stab faster than a disgruntled house wife. These are minor gripes, but it kind of felt like there was only one way to grow your character. Also, some of the pets are more useless than tits on a man (sea dragon, I’m looking your way).

But those are minor quibbles. This is the best $15 you could ever spend. Don’t make excuses. If you own an Xbox 360, get this game. End of story.

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