IN REVIEW: Manchester Orchestra - "Cope"

When I named Manchester Orchestra's second record my Album of the Year in 2009 I praised its gut-punching, emotive nature, and its sense of bombast; Mean Everything To Nothing remains one of my favourite albums of the last decade. Balancing nervous energy and cathartic aggression, it's a phenomenally executed rock album. When they upped the ante by bringing in actual orchestration on 2011's Simple Math, it was effective but only to a certain degree. Like kids with a new toy, strings and electronic flourishes were thrown at everything, sometimes to the song's detriment.

Listening to Cope, it's immediately clear that this is going to be something different; Top Notch, like the bulk of the album, it's thoroughly dominated by guitars. On Top Notch they growl, screech and slash, something like what I imagine as the sound of a forest fire on the verge of escaping containment. As the album plays, the guitars stay front and center, standing guard against any would-be intruding outside sounds (although a few pesky but harmless keyboards can be heard lurking around the perimeter occasionally).

This isn't to say that Cope is quite the pummeling, unrelenting record some of the pre-release press has referred to it as; the insinuation of a record with only rocking on its mind takes something away from the songcraft, which is in fine form here. As loud and nasty as it gets, there are fantastic songs under the grime. Every Stone is a peppy pop-rocker that just happens to shred. Girl Harbor could have been a prime top-down summer cruising tune with a 4/4 beat and less distortion. Indentions is borderline bubbly aside from its thrashing chorus. Even the closing title track, an absolute monster with its slow thrash and gutteral guitar, is an extremely well written song once you get past the crashing waves in your face.

Make no mistake, the sound is 100% intentional; this is meant to be a loud rock record, and it surely is. The spaces previously occupied by sparse tension and flourishes of light are crammed full of guitars, piled on top of each other at times to the point where songs threaten to suffocate under their metallic blankets. However, what makes this record a masterful one is that they never do; as chaotic as Cope can become, Manchester Orchestra remain firmly in control of these songs. The more you listen to a track like, say, Top Notch, the more you realize the tricky feat they're accomplishing here with relative ease.

Wisely, Cope doesn't wear out its welcome; its 11 tracks do their business in a tidy 38 minutes. Each song a 3½-minute smash and grab executed with brutal precision, each pause between tracks a chance for a deep breath and a second or two of recovery.

A fiery, head-banging hard rock record when you want it and an emotionally satisfying catharsis when you need it; Cope shouldn't be capable of being both, but it is. And, if it's not outright their best record yet, it's certainly their most tightly focused, well written and arena ready. Highly recommended.

April 1, 2014 • Loma Vista/Republic

Highlights Top Notch • Choose You • Every Stone