Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will (Vinyl) [Import]

Perhaps I'm a little too biased to write a subjective review.... Mogwai's Mr Beast and The Hawk Is Howling are two of my all-time favorite post-rock albums. (I love Explosions in the Sky too.) Mogwai's earlier stuff meanders, almost to a point where you're thinking, "Is this song ever gonna take off?" "Mr. Beast" and "The Hawk is Howling" seem to have less meandering and more structure -- and more melody. Or, in other words, each track has a definite beginning, a middle, and an ending.

Mogwai's "Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will" is comparable to the aforementioned albums -- which, for me, is great! The songs are more like jams than anything. Each song builds and soars higher than anything you've heard on the radio (and that's ironic because many of the tracks' melodies are infectiously catchy, much like the bull---- you'd hear on the radio).

My favorite track from "The Hawk is Howling" is "The Sun Smells Too Loud" and many of the tracks on "Hardcore..." have a similar, upbeat melody. (Their early stuff isn't characteristically "upbeat," and personally, I prefer the newer, "positive" sound.)

"White Noise," "Mexican Grand Prix," "Rano Pano," and "Death Ray" are all triumphant jams. The magic continues with "San Pedro," "Letters to the Metro," and "George Square Thatcher Death Party." (These Scots always give us great titles.)

"How to be a Werewolf" and "Too Raging to Cheer" offer plenty of variety and "You're Lionel Richie" is a powerful conclusion (a la "We're No Here" on "Mr. Beast").

This album is amazing. The melodies are timeless and the guitars and drums are beautiful (and savage).

THIS is rock music. This album is well-crafted...but as the mix reviews might suggest, it's not for everyone.

The way some people talk, Mogwai shouldn't have bothered releasing anything after 2000. These people are less fortunate than the rest of us and ought to be pitied above all else, because Mogwai have made slabs and slabs of sumptuous, majestic, jaw-dropping, and sometimes downright kickass music that are not on the albums _Mogwai Young Team_ or _Come On Die Young_. Furthermore, in my book, at least, every album Mogwai has done since 2001's _Rock Action_ has been better than the previous album. Yes, Rock Action < Happy Songs < Mr. Beast < Hawk Is Howling < ...would they keep up the streak...? yes! with this year's bracing blast of Mogwai music-love, the endearingly titled _Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will_ pretty much crowns (or, "pwns," if you like) them all.

The opener "White Noise" sets the tone immediately - "Good morning, throw back the curtains, it's 2011!" The first thing to objectively notice is that it's SO much BRIGHTER than 2008's _The Hawk Is Howling_ - which, although containing 10 tracks of glistening, stupendous quality, is a bit of a ponderous behemoth taken as a whole. The 10 tracks of _Hardcore_ all sound pulsating and coruscating with LIGHT, and the listener is immediately drawn into its soundworld. The music does not care whether you want to enjoy it or not; it all OWNS you for its length, and how quickly that length goes by before the obligatorily massive closer "You're Lionel Richie" (perhaps the only relatively predictable thing on this record) caps off the ride with a classic Mogwai build before depositing you back to Earth. Thank you, come again.

_Hawk_ was their first album to have a complete absence of vocals, so it's rather striking to hear them return. Partly for this reason, perhaps the most surprising songs are the ones with vocals: "Mexican Grand Prix" and "George Square Thatcher Death Party." The former, hot on the heels of the opener "White Noise," gets things pumping with an unrelenting kraut-beat and a guest vocalist on VOCODER! Nice to hear that back in its customary texture-enriching role; since _Hawk_ had no vocals at all, I guess I had assumed that they had dropped it. The latter, five tracks later, uses an AUTOTUNER of all things, which is a move of incredible chutzpah, but it hardly matters that its standard use has long since become a tiresome pop cliche, because in Mogwai's hands, it plays a perfect role in the song in which it appears, just like all their other instrumentation always does.

Even "Rano Pano," whose original working title "Sludger" should tell you about what it sounds like, is sprightly and propulsive, and as the layers are added, keyboards finally shine above the mix and coat the song in a lovely gossamer sheen. The out-and-out rocker "San Pedro" doesn't just do the "Glasgow Mega-Snake"/"Batcat" prog-metal thing again, but has a rich sound that only adds to its rockingness. "Death Rays" is my personal favorite here, with an utterly gorgeous and delectable keyboard sound, testament once again to Barry Burns' adeptness at finding/engineering the most delicious sounds for his keys, getting the absolute most out of the instrument and pouring it all over the music with boundless largesse. Also another compelling Dominic Aitchison bassline there. Does this album have a "Friend of the Night"? I think "Death Rays" may be it. "How to Be a Werewolf" (look for the video of the shorter cut of this song) sounds like the birth of light itself. Reminiscent partly of "Yes! I Am a Long Way from Home" (leadoff track of the much-celebrated first album _Mogwai Young Team_), "Werewolf" chugs along as happy as can be behind its propulsive, melodic bass line (yay Dominic Aitchison AGAIN) without any fear or shame at being thought not cool enough for school. Again, it doesn't give a rip what you may think of it. It is what it is and if you don't like it, you may as not exist as far as it's concerned. But then what's not to like anyway?

Some people are disappointed in this album, but frankly, I don't understand them. Try for yourself...

It seems as if ever since Mogwai released their second album there has been a coterie of fans demanding that the band remake their first album, Young Team. True, Young Team easily makes the running for one of the best album of the nineties, and it's an undeniably strong first statement from a band. But as years have passed and Young Team has shrunk in the rearview mirror, it has become more difficult to understand those who seemingly want a Gus Van Sant style note for note remake of Mogwai's debut. Hell, Young Team may be one of the best albums of the nineties, but the band's catalogue has taken so many crooked back roads and ducked down so many foreboding alley ways that you would have a difficult time convincing me that Mogwai haven't made a better album since 1997.

Instead of bowing to this small but vocal crowd of Young Team fanatics, Mogwai have instead chosen to produce a body of work that mimics evolution as it slithers, writhes and crawls from album to album. Mogwai may not have produced a radical shift in its sound over the years, but it has built albums that, even fifteen years into their career, still feel wholly unique statements. Mogwai's newest, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, is no exception. But don't let the typically glib title fool you. Instead of a metal thrash party, like Mr. Beast, Mogwai have turned in an album that plays with layers of texture. Album opener, "White Noise," starts off small with ambient conversation and glittering guitar notes, but over the course of its five minutes it continues to pile on more and more sound until the entire enterprise threatens to fall under its own weight. Likewise, "Rano Pano" surrounds itself in a wall of fuzz that's near impenetrable, even if the searing melody tries damn hard to break it down. Even some of the more driving songs are glazed in a blizzard of noise. "Mexican Grand Prix" sounds like the organic heart of krautrock's mechanical body. It also marks the first time we've heard vocals on a Mogwai album since Mr. Beast, even if they are encased in a Vocoder.

I've always thought that those clamoring for Young Team Pt. 2 are the same listeners who are more interested in the "next big thing" than they are in watching a band develop. They're the ones who don't realize that the greatest bands are much bigger than one album. That's too bad because if they had been paying attention over the years then they would have noticed that even Mogwai's ten or fifteen minute songs seem insignificant when compared to the big picture: seven sprawling albums cut across decades with not a single dud in sight.

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