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JUNIUS
S/T
(Radar/S.A.F.)
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Unless
you have a strong pr machine working for you around the
clock it is in this day and age close to impossible not
to get lost in the humongous shuffle of record releases.
That means, that on a consistent basis, records as good
as this one are quickly overlooked and worse yet,
forgotten. I feel quite pissed to have had this
release sitting in my promo trunk for at least a couple
of weeks. Had I known that Junius would rejuvenate my
respect for post rock I would have given it a spin the
same day I received it. Then again, this band doesn’t
limit itself to that subgenre; in fact where most post
rockers dwell in cock suckisms of bands like Mogwai and
Explosions in the Sky, Junius seem quite happy reverting
to earlier 80’s post punk bands as a source of
inspiration.
This is
clearly evident in the second half of the album; where Junius
goes from its usual hard hitting yet expansive, lush and
affecting self into a hardened 80’s pop rock band with all the
traits of a would-be Interpol with a stiff for introspective
metal. So yeah, it is still soft and yeah, it is still hard.
Please, don’t be put off by the tag ‘pop’ especially if
that sounds like a curse to you. While most post rock records
fail to paint a complete picture or to tell a fluent story,
Junius let’s the songs transcend, each one seamlessly fading
onto the next one therefore making the trip much more
uninterrupted. Have in mind that this is still very much a
guitar-centric record and Junius, though at times fragile and
gentle doesn’t shy away from full on rock distortion; which is
frequently the case.
Junius hails
out of Boston and this self-titled release is the remasters of
their releases 2004’s Forcing Out the Silence and the
more recent Blood is Bright. So frankly, I am even more
intrigued now by how well this record actually flows. Kudos to
these two labels for reissuing this little gem.
Official Site
MySpace
BUY FROM AMAZON
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