Panzer Queen

When All Our Fathers Worshiped Stock and Stone

Written by: DR on 29/12/2011 15:19:54

Now for another post-rock release from Australia. This time we have Panzer Queen's latest EP, "When All Our Fathers Worshiped Stock And Stone", which is only their second ever release. Normally, any release that's almost forty-minutes long would be deemed a full-length, right? But Panzer Queen don't appear to be pushing it as such.

Not that whether this is an LP or an EP really matters. What does matter is the fact that it's a good execution of post-rock. It is not without fault, though. These 'faults' aren't examples of Panzer Queen tripping themselves up or even doing anything badly. They are, as you may have guessed from the fact we are dealing with such a young band here, merely areas in which Panzer Queen need to improve on. Namely in making a name for themselves. They ply their post-rock trade in the area of the genre championed by Explosions in the Sky, so we are dealing with typically fresh guitar tones and cinematic flourishes of instrumentation and emotive swells over the course of seven-minute compositions - not that this is a bad thing. The good thing about this style is that, when done well, it is played with so much youthful exuberance that the lack of originality is almost entirely offset; the bad thing about it is that, because it has been done so often, when it is done merely averagely it tends to lack an identity.

There are seven tracks; three short songs that act as introductions/interlude, four 'big' songs that last roughly seven-minutes or upwards. The nondescript "Flight From The White Shores" is the first of these 'big' efforts. Despite an enthusiastic fanfare of guitars in its opening moments, it's all too eager to fall back on tried and tested guitar-patterns that don't stake their own identity, making it ultimately seeming tired. The following "Into The Golden Ocean" has a build up that is little to write home about, but is eventually redeemed by the utterly epic crescendo that seems to get louder and louder until it collapses in on itself. The guitar tones in "Selkie Stole My Heart And Hid It In The Sea" manage to capture a feeling of being underwater as the track rises to an assured and confident climax. Closer "Idioglossia" takes more in care in building an atmosphere through the use of a piano while guitars rustle impatiently beneath it, all edging gradually closer to the slow-burning crescendo that sees the album out as it reaches its peak.

The 2011 post-rock releases from Australia, or the ones that I've heard so far, have enough about them to suggest that the country might just be home to the genre's next great bands. "When All Our Fathers Worshiped Stock and Stone" is only Panzer Queen's second EP, but there is already enough about it that entitles Panzer Queen to be included alongside such bands.

Download: Idioglossia, Into The Golden Ocean
For The Fans of: Explosions in the Sky, Moonlit Sailor
Listen: Bandcamp

Release Date 19.11.2011
Bird's Robe Records

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.