Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will [Sub Pop]

7.4

On the post-rock grandfathers of Mogwai's seventh studio album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, Mogwai creates some of the most conventional, rock-oriented instrumental tracks of their career. Occasionally they will dabble in vocals ("Mexican Grand Prix"), but for the most part, Hardcore is a pure instrumental, guitar-power house anthem that might be showing how the heavily adored rock genre of post-rock is slowly, but surely dying.

What do I mean by post-rock dying? The evidence is very strong; on Sigur Rós's latest work Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust; they moved more and more away from the minimalistic and atmospheric approach to their previous work and move towards a more "folk" oriented style that has more conventional guitar lines and acoustic instrumentation. What other evidence do you need? Arguably the world's most popular post-rock band is moving away from post-rock elements. But of course, you can't take one band's disentanglement from post-rock a downfall of the genre; you still have post-rock giants like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky. But post-rock has reached this point of "where will it go now?” It seems to be under the rinse and repeat spell.

Mogwai sound as conventional as ever. It's immediate; the subtle use of dynamics is erased as the hook-filled intro "White Noise" buzzes across. Though the use of their dynamics changes their approach to their music, their sounds haven’t changed. The heavy use of guitars, heavy distortion, deep throbbing bass, and simple progressive drum lines remain. This sound has captivated audiences for a decade and its dramatic and enticing texture wraps around you. But, some tracks don't have the dramatic, heart-pounding sound. The very bizarre "Mexican Grand Prix" uses bells and keyboards plus the very unnecessary use of vocals that are barely audible make it a very mediocre track that really sucks Hardcore down. Fortunately, the mediocrity is immediately picked back up by the hard-hitting "Rano Pano".

Only two tracks really suck Hardcore down and they are "Mexican Grand Prix" and "Too Raging to Cheers", both create inadequate mixtures of instruments that don't work in the context that Mogwai intends to cross. Probably the strongest track "How To Be a Werewolf" takes the most conventional post-rock route. Another highlight, "Letters To the Metro" creates a very moody atmosphere that is the most relaxing and ironic tracks on Hardcore.

In a nutshell, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is just a pretty simple post-rock guitar anthem-fest. Only clocking in at 53 minutes (short for a post-rock album), Hardcore is a good start for someone looking into the genre and there are plenty of enjoyable hooks encased within Hardcore.

(c) Mike Lavin, Friday January 7, 2011