This Will Destroy You's self-titled debut was a fantastic and satisfying collage of familiar sounds, but it didn't prepare me for the depth of their latest LP. While other instrumental rock bands seem to be writing shorter, more compact songs, TWDY is now airing it out in grandiose fashion.
 
Tunnel Blanket is immediately darker and more willing to take chances than any of the band's previous efforts. The record opens with a 12 minute opus wherein a chaotic wall of guitar smashes its way out of stillness beautifully. The dynamic shift from quiet and contemplative to blisteringly loud isn't particularly unexpected, but the shifts are handled gracefully here and each ramp up, fade out, or jump cut is somehow earned by the emotional current that runs through songs like "Little Smoke."
Leaving the dynamics behind, "Glass Realms" finds the band simply shimmering off into the ether, only to return to rock n roll form with "Communal Blood," a song that uses three of its eight minutes to brood before it storms. "Killed the Lord, Left For the New World" shows off the band's subtle integration of electronic loops, samples, and percussion which are some of the small touches that I've always loved about This Will Destroy You's sound. The song veers off with a marching cadence that (once again) isn't unheard of in this particular part of the popular music spectrum, but when it further spins out into a wash of overtones and arhythmic drones, the band demonstrates their maturity by creating something still unexpected.
"Black Dunes" is as heavy and somber as its title suggests, and it's one of the songs on this record that elevate This Will Destroy You above that tier of generic post-rockers who simply noodle on a chord and make it louder and louder. "Black Dunes" feels driven by real angst, its steady wash of crash cymbals and grinding, bleak guitar fighting for every ounce of dynamic range. When the song ends with softened notes ringing out into the void, the whole thing feels like a completed journey through a darkly unforgiving landscape.
The record closes with "Powdered Hand," a surprisingly restrained coda to an album that contains a fair amount of bombast. Comparisons between This Will Destroy You and some of their peers and influences are fair and will be unavoidable in an age where every MP3 is tagged with classifying adjectives. Still, Tunnel Blanket is an announcement that this small band from Texas has something unique and powerful to say.
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