Manchester Orchestra - Cope (Vinyl)

Manchester Orchestra's fourth studio effort, 2014's Cope, is a heavy, often dark, yet incredibly melodic album that finds the Atlanta outfit delving deep into its post-hardcore roots. Recorded in part at the band's home studio -- which is actually just lead singer Andy Hull's parents' house, where he recorded the band's debut as a teenager -- Cope follows up the group's ambitious 2011 concept album Simple Math. As with that album, Cope features Hull's longstanding themes of anger, pain, loss, and insecurity, both personal and professional. But where Simple Math found the band investigating a more varied tonal palette, here they stick to a sheer wall of electric guitar grit and grayscale harmonics. Which is, of course, the point, as the band wanted to adhere to a cohesive sound for the whole album. Which isn't to say that the album is predictable. On the contrary, Manchester Orchestra have proven themselves to be a fluid band capable of bashing you over the head with heavy metal riffs o