Signed to Thirty Ghosts Records, the same label as My Education, Ghost Of The Russian Empire have both the name and support of a band clearly serious about making inroads in to the post-rock world. Not that this promising quintet ever follow any clichés. Far from it, 'With Fiercest Demolition' find inspiration from a bleak world view characterised by disaffected, haunting vocals and unusual song structures. Guitar controls switch from 'Dialection's shoegazing to a sound more akin to rock and roll rumble on 'The Sovereign And A Sword'. Interestingly, this is a record which gets darker and darker with each track as evinced on the multi-layered sound of doom that is 'Psychomedicated' and then the similarly elegiac but sparer arrangements of 'Plague & Punishment'. Refreshingly free of the usual bombast, this is a bleak but ultimately stirring experience.