This Will Destroy You: Sound Control, Manchester. 30 April 2016

Fantastic gig tonight at Sound Control, as This Will Destroy You - under some stark white lighting, reminiscent of Ultravox's 1984 Set Movements tour - the band give an 80 minutes masterclass of atmospheric  shoegazing doom metal post rock to a Manchester crowd. Slowly.

Oh, and there was that awkward moment when someone shouted out for a track they'd already played. I guess that's one of the drawbacks of instrumentals.

Check out the slow headbanging...

More understated packaging from Explosions In The Sky

So, here's how things were left five years ago, with the album Take Care, Take Care, Take Care being released as two different coloured discs, housed in a sleeve that opens out and folds up to make a house in a forest. There were three different coloured vinyl editions, with the house interior matching the colour of one disc from the respective edition. I have the green/brown version.

Now they're back with a new album, The Wilderness, which, although not matching the ambition of their previous artwork, is still pretty impressive. A sort of double fold-over sleeve, containing a poster and double vinyl (in two colours with side D being etched), all housed in a 12" card slip case. All done for no reason other than (a) it looks pretty impressive and (b) because they can.

The music? A more refined, plush update on previous efforts.