Manchester Orchestra
's fourth studio effort, 2014's
Cope
, is a heavy, often dark, yet incredibly melodic album that finds the Atlanta outfit delving deep into its post-hardcore roots. Recorded in part at the band's home studio -- which is actually just lead singer
Andy Hull
's parents' house, where he recorded the band's debut as a teenager --
follows up the group's ambitious 2011 concept album
Simple Math
. As with that album,
features
Hull
's longstanding themes of anger, pain, loss, and insecurity, both personal and professional. But where
found the band investigating a more varied tonal palette, here they stick to a sheer wall of electric guitar grit and grayscale harmonics. Which is, of course, the point, as the band wanted to adhere to a cohesive sound for the whole album. Which isn't to say that the album is predictable. On the contrary,
have proven themselves to be a fluid band capable of bashing you over the head with heavy metal riffs one second and lifting you cloudward with a single two-line hook the next.
is no exception, and cuts like the leadoff "Top Notch" and the slowly insistent "Trees" pummel you with a brick layer's precision and stick in your head like hardened concrete. In that sense,
's sound on
brings to mind
Tool
's aggressive intensity combined with
Built to Spill
's ceaseless gift for inventive guitar layering. Similarly, tracks like "Choose You," "Girl Harbor," and "Every Stone" are propulsive anthems with emotive, hooky melodies that grab your heart just as much as your ear. There is a hard-won maturity to
, as if
and his band -- closing in on their thirties, still grinding out their musical dreams in the house
grew up in -- set out to make the last great post-hardcore record. That might be a somewhat lofty goal, but
is more than just the sound of a band getting by; it's the sound of
at their best. ~ Matt Collar