It's been my experience, that when it comes to bands the more outlandish they title their works, one of two things is evident. The first is that they just don't give a shit about song names and their titles are disconnected inside jokes. However, more often than not, the group is trying to flex their wit and show their intellect. Red Sparowes is in a a whole 'nother plain of existence when it comes to the way they title their work. For example track six off of their 2006 LP Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun is audaciously entitled: "And by Our Own Hand Did Every Last Bird Lie Silent in Their Puddles, the Air Barren of Song as the Clouds Drifted Away. For Killing Their Greatest Enemy, the Locusts Noisily Thanked Us and Turned Their Jaws Toward Our Crops, Swallowing Our Greed Whole." Now, if Red Sparowes didn't deliver some serious skull crushing jams, that title, along with pretty much all of their titles would be the most pathetically hashed out bunch of self indulgent crap in the history of rock 'n roll. But Red Sparowes doesn't name weak willed songs extravagantly, the banddelivers some serious "kick-the-fucking-door-in" instrumental music; it's no surprise they feature former members of Isis, Angel Hair, Pleasure Forever, and Halifax Pier. Now, i'm not one to fall prey to the gimmicks of non traditional instruments used in rock music, but Red Sparowes use of a pedal steel guitar helps create their aural wall of hazy California post-metal so well that it's hard to think of them without it. The flexing and contorting wails of the pedal steel evokes such coastal images, but instead of warm sunny beaches, their sound is cold and lonesome. The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer is their first record with Emma Ruth Rundle on guitar, and maybe there is a little bit of femininity rubbing off onto the sound because overall the record is more melodic and sensitive than past releases. For most metal bands the tagging of 'sensitivity' seems to be a death note, but with Red Sparowes it only adds for their already monumental sound, allowing them to build and build to glittering triumph. Every track on The Fear is Excrusiating, But Therein Lies the Answer is eerie, luminous, haunting, and near flawless; while it doesn't necessarily push the instrumental genre forward in anyway, it is still hands down one of the best post-rock releases of the year.
-YtWt
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