The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place (studio album)
by Explosions In The Sky

The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place by Explosions In The Sky
Year: 2003
Overall rank: 683rd   
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 514 votes)
     
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 2003 (11th)
Award Top albums of the 2000s (104th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (683rd)

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Explosions in the Sk - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place - Red [New Vinyl LP] C
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Explosions In The Sky ‎- The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place Post Rock
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The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place by Explosions in the Sky (CD, 2003)
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Explosions In The Sky bestography

The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place is ranked as the best album by Explosions In The Sky.

Explosions In The Sky album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (683rd)
The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
Lower ranked (3,019th) »
Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

Jan
30
Fri
19:00
Explosions In the Sky
Basilica Hudson, Hudson, United States. United States
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Feb
01
Sun
20:00
Explosions In The Sky - The End Tour
State Theatre, Portland, United States. United States
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The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place track list

   The tracks on this album have an average rating of 86 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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1.
Track pick (870 - 117 votes)
Average Rating: 87 (117 votes)Comments: View 1
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Track pick (860 - 109 votes)
Average Rating: 86 (109 votes)Comments: View 0
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Average Rating: 82 (100 votes)Comments: View 0
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Track pick (890 - 141 votes)
Average Rating: 89 (141 votes)Comments: View 2
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Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 683rd | 2000s rank: 104th | 2003 rank: 11th

The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place collection

The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 514 votes)
   Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 514 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
70/100
 !
11/26/2025 23:44 Exist-en-ciel   3,95070/100
 
80/100
 !
11/07/2025 17:26 Keatownrodriguez   1,47968/100
 
100/100
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08/31/2025 00:05 nextorgd   1,12284/100
 
50/100
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08/21/2025 13:05 marcoserra1966   72358/100
 
95/100
 !
08/03/2025 03:23 BroknsocialShawn   26185/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.4/100, a mean average of 77.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.2.

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The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 33 comments |
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Rating:  
50/100
From 03/18/2022 16:02 | #282998
This is just the music they put in the background for those horrible motivational videos.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
55/100
From 02/13/2019 10:17 | #231874
What?: A fully instrumental album that is 5 tracks and 45 minutes long . It's a great example of Post-Rock with soundscapes and textures created with only electric guitars (3 I think) and drums , the songs start slowly then gradually build to a crescendo

Who?: Explosions in the Sky (Texas) have been around since 1999 and are considered Post-Rock pioneers. This is their 3rd album . The band gained mainstream attention by sound-tracking much of the Friday Night Lights movie and TV series

Do I Need To Hear This Album ?: If your looking to discover Post-Rock absolutely , just make sure you check out Sigur Ros as well . To the casual listener the tracks can sound very similar how ever album closer "You Hand In Mine" is rather beautiful and clear album standout. This album is NOT on the major streaming services so apart from buying the CD YouTube is your best bet to hear it
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 04/04/2017 20:33 | #188730
Silent poetry, Instrumental colored record
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 03/24/2017 20:07 | #188023
They certainly did/said everything they possibly could with this record, leaving them nowhere to go after. Diminishing returns with every release since. People can take shots at it because of any reason they want but I just want music I can feel. Job done for me, sorry. It's an album that I've always thought is kind of perfect in the way nothing seems overdone or even underplayed, just the exact amount every time and they seem to manage to pull that off the whole record. Certainly a high point of the genre along with the obvious suspects.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 09/21/2016 17:03 | #175523
I understand criticisms of this record, especially as a precursor to the unfortunate plateau Explosions in the Sky faces with their more recent work (exemplative of the greater state of post-rock as a whole). It follows a rather typical format of instruments building upon each other until a climax is reached, at which point it settles down.

I don't think people who approach it that mechanically are really listening to this record correctly, however. The timbre of the sounds produced range from triumphant, to mournful, to somewhat ominous, especially in later tracks on the record. The opener and the closer are the best points found on this album, with some of the overlaying melodies being downright catchy, which is a trait not usually emphasized in post-rock music.

A lot of my love for this album comes from it being one of the first vinyl records I ever bought. It is a concept album about the value of importance, and your significance despite the universe telling you that you don't matter. Engraved on Side D on the vinyl edition is no music, just engravings of birds accompanying the words 'because you are listening, because you are breathing, the earth is not a cold, dead place'
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 06/09/2016 01:37 | #168242
Fine instrumental rock ideal for a rainy day. Only criticism the tracks are somewhat indistinguishable from one another.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 12/31/2015 06:57 | #155406
Starts off with an amazing track. Then starts to go down. Solid album that introduced me to post rock, but there are better post rock albums out there.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 06/29/2015 20:26 | #144809
Predictable at times and I found that I loved the track titles more than the content. Still a calming record.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 10/26/2014 19:50 | #125460
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Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (0 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
From 07/31/2014 01:39 | #118165
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Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -4 votes (2 helpful | 6 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 2003
1. Elephant by The White Stripes
2. Hail To The Thief by Radiohead
3. Absolution by Muse
4. Room On Fire by The Strokes
5. Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins
6. Give Up by The Postal Service
7. Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie
8. The Magnolia Electric Co. by Songs: Ohia
9. De-Loused In The Comatorium by The Mars Volta
10. Fever To Tell by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
11. The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place by Explosions In The Sky
12. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by OutKast
13. Michigan by Sufjan Stevens
14. Meteora by Linkin Park
15. Ghosts Of The Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon
16. Quebec by Ween
17. Velocity : Design : Comfort by Sweet Trip
18. The Black Album by Jay-Z
19. Fallen by Evanescence
20. Mount Eerie by The Microphones
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