- Record Label: Temporary Residence
- Release Date: Nov 4, 2003
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Explosions in the Sky doesn't shift as suddenly or jarringly on Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place; the quartet has applied more structural predictability this time out, but is still quick about setting the sad butterflies in your stomach to fluttering.
-
There are a lot of groups out there doing this sort of music, but not very many doing it this well.
-
Alternative PressSeamless and sparkling. [Jan 2004, p.98]
-
The tones and the story told -- wordlessly throughout -- are exquisite.
-
BlenderThe quartet fills out the album by executing almost eactly the same formula [as the first track] four more times... and the dramatic shock wears off quickly. [Jan 2004, p.103]
-
With some guitar plucks and stuttering drums, the group is able to be more emotionally resonant and inspired than most other bands’ yelping front men can.
-
There’s enough continental plate-shifting histrionics to keep any unsatisfied Godspeed! fans amused.
-
The buildup remains, but the payoff is fleeting and tentative when it's made at all – the songs do get big and loud, but there's always the hint of an ultimate impending boom which, in songs like "Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean", never comes.
-
Entertainment WeeklyIt seems like ideal film-soundtrack music, except that its gargantuan beauty would probably overwhelm any image you'd match it to. [Listen 2 This supplement, Dec 2003, p.18]
-
One of the most impressive aspects of The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place is that it feels constantly in flux, growing and transforming with every note.
-
Most of all, though, what we find ourselves thinking of when enjoying 'The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place' - and, rest assured, readers, it's an enjoyable experience right the way through - is the magical spangliness that elevated the Cocteau Twins from absolutely all of their more ghettoised contemporaries way back when.
-
Q MagazineThey don't quite escape the shadow of Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mogwai, but there's something rather joyous about this unadorned rock dynamic. [Jan 2004, p.114]
-
As beautiful as much of the album is, it all starts to blend together after a while.
-
The feeling I'm left with, after 'Your Hand In Mine' ebbs away, is that I may never need another instrumental album like this again. The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place has already provided what may be the ideal version. And for that, it is absolutely essential.
-
These are tunes that twinkle and thunder like exploding stars, and show that there are still infinite possibilities in two guitars, bass and drums.
-
Explosions In The Sky are the only instrumental post-rock band that matters, and The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place is proof.
-
UncutA formidable demonstration of what can still be done with guitars. [Jan 2004, p.114]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 112 out of 126
-
Mixed: 2 out of 126
-
Negative: 12 out of 126
-
MikeCJan 20, 2010An incredible accomplishment, every song on the album is gold. It all just flows so perfectly.
-
TraceyRJan 10, 2007Sublime
-
ArmandTSep 1, 2006