Sleepwraith "Day Terrors" <REVIEW>
“… a terrifying experience that pumps your blood faster than your heart can keep up…”
No, you weren’t seeing things in the thumbnail, that wraith is totally me. Fun fact, about a few minutes before that picture was taken, I had just smoked a beer…
Sleepwraith is a 2 piece metal band from Edmonton, Alberta. They’ve been only around for a little bit under the current moniker but have actually been around in the Western Canadian metal scene for over 20 years, and eventually wanted to create a sound that encompassed every style that they’ve experimented with. From grunge, to punk, hardcore, metalcore and death metal. All of which allegedly came together with Sleepwraith, and their debut album Day Terrors. With such a background as this, will the day terrors feel more real than the night? Or will it feel like you’re smoking a beer? Well, let’s not waste much more time, let’s get straight into it…
We start the album on “The Aphelion Complex”with a flatline, and the sound of a charged defibrillator. Before the doctor can shout “CLEAR” however, our boys immediately take off. For a first impression, they’re off to a great start. Kicking things into overdrive from the opening notes with chaotic drum patterns and visceral riffs. It doesn’t take long for the vocals to growl their way into the mix. Right from the get-go, we get our first idea of their influences. This is very clearly a death metal record at the start, and it’s not afraid to flaunt it with this song. But it doesn’t stick with it for long. 2 or so minutes into that first track, we start to stray a bit off the path, and we get into our first atmospheric section. And THAT is where (I at least) realized that this isn’t your standard death metal affair. This feels a lot more progressive than first realized. Even when we get back into the death metal breakdown section a minute later, the smooth atmospherics of the previous section still linger forward into the solo.
It’s in that song, and the next track “Transorbital Decay” where the duo introduce a lot more melody in the instrumentation. The chord progressions and lead work weave melodies like a newly made basket. I followed every melody from front to back as the path it formed with each note continued. Once our vocalist Seedy Mitchell switches from the growls to his clean stylings with the line "Sideways skies, anemic hue”, it was here I realized what music I was listening to… this was (up to this point) an album that transcended genre. Songs like “Anamnesis” and “Burial Plot” continued this trend as well, sewing many of the styles the duo have been a part of for 20 years into one sound that defines all of them. I find this interesting as I never felt like I was taken out of the experience at all throughout. Even though the album kept chugging along through “Sol”, “Carnival Dread“ and “A Demon’s Pawn and the Abyss”, the sound created on Day Terrors felt consistent.
Even though the sound scape keeps shifting and shaking through different ideas and atmospheres and tones, it all felt consistent. It felt like a Devin Townsend record at times; not in tone, but in experience. Ever changing, but always whole. Even when “Carnival Dread” literally is the only song that writes a jazzy carnival section in between brutal death metal. It’s insane! Continuing onward to the “The Vile, Raptured” suite, we get our first “generally” hard rock track. The 2 minute number is meant to set the tone for the brutal “The Vile Raptured” (without the comma, because different song?). At first glance, it was confusing why these were two different songs, but after listening to them I understood why. One is heavy rock, the other is just HEAVY, though I’m not sure what Sleepwraith couldn’t have named that other song something else? So if I have to bring it up again, I’m just gonna call it “Clownfish Terrors“, because there’s no other songs named that on this album, and have you seen a clownfish? Those things are fucking scary! People love “Finding Nemo”, but I don’t trust that fish! Going back to the album, the feeling’s mutual on the 6-minute closer “Dystory”, where the first half is our typical death metal affair, while the second half slows down a bit, and ends on an emotional solo that feels like it was straight ripped from Avenged Sevenfold’s early days.
Actually, I think that might be why I like this so much… while Day Terrors is clearly more death metal than the hardcore/metalcore sound A7X was making back in the early 2000s, the guys in Sleepwraith are taking a few cues from albums like Sounding the Seventh Trumpet and Waking the Fallen. Brutal metalcore riffs, punk rock energy and some complexity in the arrangements. And I really like the old style of A7X anyways, so I mean… Yeah.
But going back to what I was saying earlier about constant shifting tones and styles, there are elements that do stick out and can easily be pinpointed was to what style they are, mostly specific songs. “The Aphelion Complex“ is clearly your standard death metal song with a few clean elements sprinkled in, “Anamnesis” and “Clownfish Terrors” are clearly metalcore, and many other moments. So there’s a style for everybody on Day Terrors.
Finishing the 55 minute album for this review felt like I was listening to a literal nightmare being constructed for its victim as they sleep. Twists and turns with guttural emotional traits that are meant to cause a heart attack to our victim, whether asleep or awake. Overall, Day Terrors is a title that sells this album for what it is, a terrifying experience that pumps your blood faster than your heart can keep up. Heavy sounds, horrifying images laced throughout and a dynamic soundscape that once finished, you wanna witness the terror again more and more without getting bored. The guys in Sleepwraith really out-did themselves with this one. A debut album for a name, but another drop of musical experience that strengthens our duo as musicians, and as a group.
The promotion material that I was using for this review states that Sleepwraith is just about creating art and (at the time of writing this) have no intention to play live shows at the moment. If these guys do decide to take ANY of the music into a live setting, I can assure you, I would pay big bucks to go see that show. The pit alone would be a hell of a ride. Day Terrors is an easy recommend for any metal heads, and already an easy contender for “Album of the Year”. It’s still too early to tell, but if this album doesn’t make it to the list at the end of 2020, then this is going to be a great year for music in metal…
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