65daysofstatic

Instrumental rock bands get a bit of a free ride. It’s much easier for a band to sound apocalyptic or to conjure images of a dystopic future wasteland when no one has to write lyrics and no one has to sing them. This feeling seems to be only magnified in a live setting, as anyone who has ever heard a Godspeed! concert referred to as "life-changing” certainly knows. Enter 65daysofstatic, a British group with a reputation for an intense live show and a passionate online fan following. The band’s sophomore effort One Time for All Time merges Explosions in the Sky-style Armageddon rock with a dash of electronics, each song building to a furious conclusion with the grandeur of metal but the relentlessness of post-hardcore. After nine tracks, the record seems to ebb and flow in the most predictable places, spending too much time on the latter half of the soft/loud dynamic. 65daysofstatic might just be a bit too bludgeoning for those Slint-reared post-rockers who want to earn their catharsis.