Crash of Rhinos - Knots

I swear I'm cursed when it comes to bands. In the past I've been pretty successful when it comes to getting into bands long after they've split up (see: Million Dead, Reuben, Blakfish) and seeing bands I have loved for a good while subsequently split up (Tubelord, Dananananaykroyd) but this is a new one for me. I bought this record having listened to it a few times, and within 48 hours the band split up. Did I cause the split? Probably not, in all truth, but maybe...

How bloody high up is that house? I can't even see the ground. I know it's on stilts and everything but that can't be safe. All joking aside though, there's a lovely level of detail to this cover. The whole "distressed" look isn't usually my cup of tea but here I can deal with it. It's not too invasive, though personally I'd prefer a cleaner picture of the house. Personal preference, though.

Inside the gatefold, we have printed lyrics. I always love printed lyrics, especially when they're for songs I want to sing along to. Nothing else to comment on here really (save for the awful quality of my photo, my bad).

Ooh yes. a lovely translucent green. This is from the second pressing of the album, limited to 100 each of transparent green and transparent orange. I think I chose well (though fans of orange records have nothing to worry about, there is some orange coming up very soon), but one of the first pressing colour variants was white with black splatter which would have pleased me endlessly via matching the artwork. Oh well. Just to say as well, the label design is top-notch too. Here's a picture to better show that shade of green (also, unintentionally, my great penguin poster):

Tasty.

I've seen Crash Of Rhinos referred to as emo recently, and I'm not sure how well that fits. There are hints of emo for sure, but with big swathes of math-rock and a dash of punk thrown in for good measure. I'm not going to try and fit it neatly into one genre, but what I will say is that it's bloody good. For a final album, this is one heck of a way to go out. The majority of the songs stretch out to almost 6 minutes, with occasional shorter interludes, and yet nothing ever feels overly long. The two highlights of this album for me are the songs that bookend the album. Opening track Luck Has A Name more or less works in two phases - building from a glorious intro for the first 3 and a half minutes, before slowing the pace and doing the whole thing over again for the following three. It works perfectly. Final Track Speeds Of Ocean Greyhounds, on the other hand, has the kind of chorus that is absolutely insistent and knows full-well that it'll stick in your head for days. The album is available for whatever amount of money you choose to pay here - and it's so worth getting. One of the best albums released last year, for sure.