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Final Days Society

Ours Is Not A Caravan Of Dispair

Written by: DR on 09/08/2011 16:31:45

If you're ever in doubt as to the influence Explosions in the Sky have had on the post-rock scene, all you need to do is scratch away at the surface of the myriad of bands who take huge and unashamed influence from them as they try their hand at cinematic post-rock. Case in point: Final Days Society, from Sweden, and their second album, "Ours Is Not A Caravan Of Despair".

This quartet have been clearly influenced by EITS, from the picture-esque song-titles such as "In This Darkness We Disappear", to the average run time of approximately eight minutes per song, to the crescendo-core orientated format of their songs and use of guitars and effects. Not that this is a bad thing, however, because bands operating in this area of the genre that have the talent to pull it off, and do so without somehow sounding like complete rip-offs are rare. Final Days Society are one of those rare bands.

To put it simply: Final Days Society are good at what they do. Their songs, the scale of which would ordinarily test the listener's patience by approaching the ten-minute mark, are constructed with an engaging nous of texture and tone which gives the listener plenty to admire. Aside from efforts such as the Moonlit Sailor-esque "...Beauty" and "Swans", both demonstrate their instrumental soundscape prowess but are nothing especially new or inventive, it is the songs in which Final Days Society utilise vocals - an area we've seen a lot of bands fall down in - where they really come into their own. The build-up of effects and quiet, unintrusive vocals masking the guitar-distortion in opener "60" is spectacular, while "Theory Of Everything" pulls off emotionally-charged vocals - unusual for this genre, as bands often look to blend calm, cold vocals in with the atmosphere; but in "In This Darkness We Disappear" vocalist Suwat Khanh shows off his range by going for the atmospheric, and pulling it off by melting it successfully into the lush soundscape.

"Ours Is Not A Caravan Of Despair" is a good album by a band who clearly know their way around post-rock, but when listening to it I can't help but wonder why it isn't a great album. Take "60": the build-up is spectacular, it truly is, but it ends prematurely, before ever reaching that moment that gives you goosebumps. That goes for the entire album; as good as it is, as much as you'll get out of it, and as clearly as Final Days Society are much more than just another post-rock band, it could, and maybe should have been, that little bit more which would push it into the 'great' scores.

Download: 60, Swans, In This Darkness We Disappear
For The Fans of: Explosions in the Sky, Moonlit Sailor, Caspian
Listen: Myspace

Release Date 15.04.2011
Armod/Soundpollution