Empire

Album review

Some bands get more polished and approachable over the passage of time, either in a bid to reach a wider audience or simply as a product of having played together enough to develop a greater level of technical skill. Unwound, however, started out abrasive and challenging, and they stayed that way with a bloody-minded determination through most of their career, and when they did decide to approach a less punishing sound on their final album, they did so in a way that was as much of a challenge to listeners as their more chaotic work. The proof can be found in Empire, the fourth and final installment in a series of box sets from Numero Group charting Unwound's body of work from before the beginning to after the end. Empire includes newly remastered editions of Unwound's final two albums, 1998's Challenge for a Civilized Society and 2001's Leaves Turn Inside You, as well as nine bonus tracks encompassing single sides, studio outtakes, and demos. Working with producer and engineer Steve Fisk, Challenge for a Civilized Society found Unwound upping the ante on their traditionally angular sound, as Justin Trosper's wiry guitars and lo-fi synthesizers chased one another until they eliminated any empty space, and Vern Rumsey's bass and Sara Lund's drums at once anchored the songs and threatened to wrench their structures apart. Leaves Turn Inside You took a different but even more ambitious approach: Unwound built their own recording studio and painstakingly constructed the performances to their exacting specifications, and the songs may have been less outwardly noisy, but the shifting tides of the tunes were no less daunting, and the result was a double album that was a triumph of the band's skill, determination, and singular vision. Given the bulk of this four-LP package, Empire is hardly an ideal introduction to Unwound's singular musical world-view, but for fans looking for a writ-large celebration of this band's remarkable final act, this set is a luxury and a necessity at once.
© Mark Deming /TiVo