Track Listing

1. First breath After Coma
2. The only moment we were alone
3. Six days at the bottom of the ocean
4. Memorial
5. Your Hand In Mine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1739 in Music
• Released on: 2003-11-03
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

awesome.
There is a reason for the bad reviews given to this album, and that is simply because it surpasses any previously released material by similar 'pioneering' bands such as godspeed, which unfortunately these blinkered individuals cannot see past. TEINACDP is a truly incredible album... the interwoven guitars, soaring riffs, delicate melodies and so forth complement one another to create a somewhat 'pure' sounding record. However, whether it counts as post-rock or not is another thing. Throughout thisrecord Explosions verge more on Prog (what with the creative use of time changes and so on), producing a record in its own entity. It is a far cry from overly ambitious attempts to sound artistic, different and post-modern from such bands as Godspeed and Mogwai (both of which i love). But this album sounds different- it is what it is.

The fact is, this record is a timeless piece that will always be special to those that allow it to be, excepting those post-rock purists who attempt to find things wrong with it out of principle. Which is, coincidently, not what post-rock is about.

cy54g
Allow me a lazy comparison: The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place is the 3 Feet High and Rising of post-rock. Both have a decent amount of respect within genres that are irrelevant to most, yet not far enough out there to be completely obtuse, and both are relatively unthreatening; ideal for those who want to dip their toe in the water but aren't brave enough to go diving off the cliffs into the deep, vast sea just yet. You can claim to be open-minded too, by backing up your dismissal of Godspeed/Wu-Tang by stating that you like Explosions/De La Soul. It's all down to personal taste and not lack of appreciation, right?

While other post-rock bands indulge themselves in "pretension" (monologues, political references, enigmatic personas, etc.), Explosions in the Sky are happy to just add echo effects to their twangy guitars and increase the pace of the drumming whenever they feel the need to "build". I don't mind predictability; I know what I'm getting with a lot of hardcore punk, yet the sheer joy of listening to a new album makes up for any lack of variety. Essentially, The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place sounds like a jam session by a better band after a hard night of drug abuse. Slap on some beautiful cover art, get a record deal and, bang, you're suddenly the figurehead of a genre.

Relating this back to De La Soul, there is one key difference that makes me bump 3 Feet High and Rising every so often yet leave this slab of instrumental boredom on the shelf: De La Soul are fun. Yeah, for all their inoffensiveness, Prince Paul's fun-lovin', hippy New Yorkers really knew how to make creative music that could bring people towards the style as well as please those jaded, cynical stalwarts in the corner

Hell, when this genre's at its peak, it can shake the very foundations of your soul like nothing else. This just buzzes in the background.

soaring and never boring
Album number three from the texan post rock instrumentalists shows a band very much confident in their own ability to stir emotions and build to glorious and vast heights in this 45 minute,5 track album.
This band at this juncture lived up to the sparse nature of post rock in that there is only guitars,bass and drums,no keyboard,no pianos,no anything bar what i mentioned,but yet the atmospheres conjured were very far from dull.
I will state that on my first few listens of this that i wasnt blown away,i kept thinking of the band pelican and thinking that they do it better,well now,while i think that pelican do it better in terms of being heavy,that explosions in the sky are just so good at creating soundscapes that hit the heart.
First breath after coma opens proceedings and broods and teases before launching into a perfect crescendo,drums are so important here as they stamp over everything and lift the song to soaring status.
The rest of the album follows in similar fashions and speed frames and development is so important to this band,not to give away their hand to early,they taunt and tease and bring you to places you shouldnt be,high praise indeed,very enjoyable.