The Fierce and the Dead - If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe

Already having two EPs in the can, newcomers of the post-rock scene The Fierce and the Dead have been creating some fine music lately since forming in 2010, however the sound is becoming more of a futuristic atmosphere of the 22nd century in a realism of a score in the sci-fi world a-la Blade Runner style. So what do you do when you have Matt Stevens, Kev Feazey, and Stuart Marshall who follow in the lead of Porcupine Tree and the 21st century sounds of King Crimson meets Radiohead?

Well when you add those three up, it’s about time that you make a first album and their debut album, If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe, they have made the music into an soundtrack for our lives. Sure, it has an indie rock flavor and prog-like boundaries that could have made Thom Yorke work with the Arcade Fire or the Decemberists, but The Firece and the Dead shows that they are not show-offs, but carrying the torch of making lukewarm alternative instrumental rock beauty that would have you’re skin crawling up and down of all places.

The eerie and haunting compositions makes it a dooming and post-apocalyptic annihilation as Matt’s guitar sends in with experimentations that light up the thunder and bringing the looping sounds into a mind-blowing experience, you almost began to wonder “How in the hell does he do that?” as drummer Stuart Marshall plays like a Mad scientist in his footsteps of: Bill Bruford, Neil Peart, and Phil Selway. Pieces like the fierce punk-prog Crimson hardcore sound on Landcrab is an in-your-face-fuck you attitude while the wildly avant-garde touches on the opener, Flint pays tribute to Scotland’s own post-rock band Mogwai. The Miles Davis Jack Johnson-era fusion touches are in there with Daddyies Little Helper before becoming a soaring upbeat tempo finale. It’s when everything starts to click and gets their mojo working around the clock.

As Woodchip becomes a Tangerine Dream moog adventure, it goes into the sounds of the ‘80s with the Joy Division-sque moody punches on 10x10 and the era of OK Computer might come in handy on Part 2, but the trippy and psych finale on the 6-minute epic, Andy Fox takes the listener into the Outer Limits and into the Solar System to view different planets as guitarist Matt Stevens creates some haunted guitar work that shines throughout the piece to bring the music closer like a knot that is tight and won’t let loose as Marshall calms his drums down to set the film noir scenery that makes you imagine this piece as in a dramatic movie.

The Fierce and the Dead have a long way to go, let’s hope they got something in their sleeves years and years to come. Maybe writing a film score? We don’t know, but this is the big push for them and they got a good start here.