Review: Brontide - Sans Souci

April 27, 2011

Review: Brontide - Sans Souci

I fear that modern post-rock is in danger of doing what “indie” music did in 2007 and become very stagnant very quickly. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of great bands and exciting music about, there just seems to be a little lack of innovation.

Not that Sans Souci falls into that category. It is innovative and exciting on a level I haven’t heard in years. Varying from layered guitar loops, akin to Battles, to almost Sigur Ros-esque dreamy chords and then onto huge, heavy riffs that remind you of early Glassjaw.

It is all crafted so wonderfully as well. Recording as one 52 minute piece of music has ensured is flows brilliantly from start to finish, and the bands ability to switch between styles so easily and freely removes any chance of it ever becoming anything close to dull. Take ‘Limehouse Ink’, a track which opens with one of the heaviest riffs on the record, before evolving into music that could you dance to, before returning to crashing drums and distortion.

Albums like Sans Souci do not come along every day. It is clear so much work has gone into this record, and combined with amazing musicianship it has led to a stunning piece of music. The bar for instrumental musical greatness is fairly high, Brontide have, if anything, pushed it higher.

9.3/10

Sans Souci is out on Holy Roar Records on May 30th.