Labels: Golden Morning Sounds
Review by: Oli Saunders
I asked to review this album because of the band name and the fact that it was described as post-rock. Say what you want but I loved early Pelican at the time and I still have a soft spot for them. It’s great how this slightly spurious reason has led me to find some amazing new music.
I have no idea if Australasia are aware of Pelican or whether they are influenced at all by them. Their sound is quite different – reminding me of Once We Were but with heavy parts. In fact, black metalesque heavy parts with blast-beat drumming. And they even throw in a keyboard at the end of ‘Spine’. Then, to throw me off still further, track three is a very minimalistic track with gorgeous vocals. I’m starting to think that they are fucking with me! Not staying with any particular style for very long, going off on tangents that I never expected but which work – okay, they are from Italy, that explains it.
Every so often a band plays post-rock that isn’t copycat and that I get very excited about – you know, when you get goosebumps and stuff. With this release Australia join the likes of Once We Were, L’homme Puma, The Sea Like Lead and 5ive. I need to go play this on something other than my laptop speakers right now. Amazing effort.
29th December 2012