Your Cat is a Landmine - Before the Boards and Ballast Break

Your Cat is a Landmine

Before the Boards and Ballast Break
self-released; 2016

3.9 out of 5

By Matt Jensen
​

Ben (vocals/bass), Mike (guitars/backing vocals) and Alex (drums) are the three members behind Your Cat is a Landmine. The band recently released Before the Boards and Ballast Break, which is the band first full-length album. Previously the band started to get their name out there with three EP’s which all contained three songs.

Before the Boards and Ballast Break is the best example yet of the band combining post-rock and pop. Throughout the album the band reaches epic heights that have the essence of post-rock while still implementing catchy vocal melodies and memorable choruses. I actually feel like Your Cat is a Landmine is an excellent starting point if you are interested in exploring bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky who completely encompass and arguably invented the genre of post-rock.

The album starts off with the title track, which is really just an instrumental intro. Refined classical piano is combined with feedback of a guitar for a little over a minute. The next song “Hope Springs Eternal” is where the album starts to take off. It’s an incredibly dynamic song. They start by rocking out, bringing it down a notch on the verse and then bringing it down another notch before launching into the chorus which has just as much power as a Foo Fighters song. 

The first couple of seconds of “Caravaggio Was a Murderer” makes you think they went full on metal. Within ten seconds the bands pulls the ruse and goes into a melodic verse. The song starts to fade out around two-and-a-half-minutes in and I was wondering what they were going to do with the remaining minute. Well it transitions into an ominous drone. I was already impressed by the drumming but the beats on “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” are exceptional. The soft vocal harmonies are also exceptional on this track.

After a short instrumental piece entitled “Mineral” the band continues to slay with songs like “Antimony” and the extremely heavy closer “Autumn In December.”

​I think Your Cat is a Landmine made the smart move by releasing a couple of short EP’s leading up to this impressive album. The band should certainly turn a few heads with this full-length debut.

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