Formed in the autumn of 2004 in the frigid country of Russia, I Am Above on the Left are in no way a cookie-cutter post-rock band. An A-Bomb to Wake Up is their second release, and while it does show growth and a more mature side of the band, it is in no way a perfect CD. Both the name of the band and the title of the release sound intense, heavy, and uncontrolled, and that’s the best way to describe the entire effort.

The opener, “The Elephants Will Never Come Back,” invites the listener on a chaotic bone-crushing journey through a mysteriously dark palace. While the music sounds like the outcome of the devil and a group of his evil buddies producing their own corrupt and poisonous rendering of a math-rock band, the track itself is undoubtedly catchy until it reaches its final minute. At this time, the band decides to stop playing and instead follows a more experimental path, using reverbed guitars and other 'noisy' sounds to challenge the listener to not skip to the next song. “To Swallow a Wasp” is the most appealing track on the album, likely because it is the most concentrated, focused effort on the album, featuring destrutive rock from beginning to end. This track is the only one which truly feels as though it has had a lot of time and thought put into it, and the product is nothing short of amazing -- even if you aren’t that much of a fan of hardcore and intense sounds.

“The Korova Milk Bar (Vomitorium)” is the last track  that has any sense of direction, and even though the whole thing is just a bunch of skull-crushing riffs placed on top of one another, later on the listener will wish that the album did not change as drastically as it does after this track. “Mr. Father” starts off a run of four tracks, all of which, frankly, are poorly done; this track and the three that follow sound as though the band is playing their instruments with no intention of making real music, content to mash away like children in a Mario Party free-for-all. “Deaf In The Morning” starts off with the now normal random distortions, and when it seems like all hope is lost for the track, the band decides to pull their heads out from wherever they were and out blossoms a beautiful assortment of sounds -- not to say that the music itself is beautiful, like something by Eluvium or The Album Leaf, but in context of the band and the music they play, it’s a beautiful track.

Less then half of the tracks on An A-Bomb to Wake Up are worth the effort, making us think that the band would have benefited more if it had edited themselves more and presented just an EP out of the recorded material. One major problem with the CD is that the transition between songs are either nonexistant or hastily crafted, as one song may end with drones and outlandish sounds while the succeeding track will start off with a high intensity that’s hard for the listener to follow. I Am Above on the Left seems to be hiding themselves behind far too many effects. much to their own detriment. While this release may not be one that will go down as a solid or historic effort, it does show an important change in a young band that will, without a doubt, grow into a leader in the merger of post-rock and hardcore music. Only time can tell what will come…we just have to wait for the radiation of the A-bomb to wear off and see how the band rebuilds.

-Erich Meister