The typical characteristic when it comes to post-rock seems to be length. Long song titles, album names, band names, the song themselves, long pauses, long sections in which all you hear is static and so on. While Magyar Posse do attempt to fulfill most of these crtieria where they fall short is in the song lengths. And in typical 'posse' style, instead of having long brooding sections and tedious buildups, they go straight for the good stuff.
The songwriting of this outfit is pretty damn solid. The best thing about them is that unlike most post-rock bands(that is from my limited exposure to the genre) which tend to focus mainly on grandiose buildups for songs on this album are without exception based on very simple and accesible tunesl the sort of stuff that you could hum along to and can start listening from any point and get right into it.
The production is a bit ambient like in Isis's Oceanic(not to imply that it sounds anything like them) but the songs are more layered and atmospheric. The drumming is relentless, and amply backed by guitar and keyboards. The song structuring is similar to bands like Slint or Explosions in the Sky but even at the height of buildups the sounds are pretty restrained which is a slight downer. Songs are mostly instrumental but with bits of humming and a cool folky chorus towards the end of the track 'Death in the Desert'. All the songs are really good(with the possible exception of 'Witchcraft'), but the track 'Enemy Within' and 'Singlesparks are Spectral Fires' would have to be my favourites.
Their new album 'Kings of Time' is pretty different from this, being more guitar driven and with violin instead of keyboards but is equally good(and a lot louder). All in all, Magyar Posse are easily my favourite band of the post-rock genre, and will be yours too once you listen to them.
Standout Tracks: 'Singlesparks are Spectral Fires' and everything else.
Score: 8.5/10
