Album Review: Mogwai-Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

Mogwai have had a long career, debuting in 1997 with the majestic opus Young Team, one of those albums that defines an era and somehow transcends it, defining the oft-maligned and elusive genre known as post-rock with an effortless and casual indifference to any prevailing trends of the time. Almost fifteen years on, it's still a thrilling listen, full of drama and bombast, epic crescendos and ear-blistering noise, and passages of ambient prettiness that make the huge shifts in volume all the more startling. Since then they have released a bunch of albums that expand on the initial template to varying degrees of success - 1999's melodic Come On Die Young; the experimentation of 2001's Rock Action; and an increasingly heavier tact on Happy Songs For Happy People, Mr Beast, and 2008's The Hawk Is Howling. For all their expansion and experimentation, there is a quintessential and recognisable element that pervades all the aforementioned releases and their new one Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will.