Red Sparowes - Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red Sun

Featuring members of Isis and Neurosis, both monstrously heavy heavy outfits playing beyond the limits of metal, Red Sparowes plough a similiar vein as thunderous cinematic instrumental landscapes hurtle past, occasionally touching upon a narrative. Their second album, 'Every Red Heart Shines Towards The Red Sun', is a concept album based around a communist China era atrocity, but seeing as the band so spectacularily missed the point, the music can thankfully be listened to without any pre-conceived story. 'Every Red Heart...' is essentially a heavier-than-most instrumental post-rock album, with swelling, never ending guitar crescendos and trance inducing war drums. An album of textures rather than songs, the Red Sparowes do an admirable job of filling any space that the lack of vocals might leave. But they are a very visual band, and the album will no doubt benefit more with the assistance of the visuals that accompany their live shows. [Ali Maloney]