Post by thesoundmonitor on Jun 4, 2004 6:29:39 GMT -5
WALL OF SLEEP
Slow But Not Dead
(psycheDOOMelic)
Some of you know that ‘Wall of Sleep’ refers to the song by the same title on the first Black Sabbath album; fewer of you will know that it's also an H.P. Lovecraft reference. Both are perfectly appropriate, 'cause Wall of Sleep lays down smooth, riffing doom with style and panache, invigorating an occasionally moribund genre to the point where any old school doomster should feel duty-bound to check it out. After all, it isn't every day that you get to hear what a prime Hungarian doom band has to offer.
Wall of Sleep has a couple of members from the now-defunct doom pioneers Mood, which began life in '94 and broke up in 2001. Before that, WOS members Sandor and Gabor were into the 80s hardcore scene before they turned on their doom light, so you know we're dealing with experienced musicians here. Wall of Sleep is altogether darker and doomier than Mood: their motto, "Slow But Not Dead," says it all. The ‘Sleep dudes use their considerable experience to pay homage to Sabbath and their successors, while adding in heavy rock elements to create some delicious early 70s style, blues-based melodic doom. I think this new disc beats their previous EP, Overlook the All, in
raw energy, and like that effort is full to the brim of the confident ensemble playing for which the group is known.
They say that Hungary is a good place to get well into the spirit of doom, maybe even as good as Finland, ha ha. Or Maryland. Wall of Sleep is not shy about expressing their feelings of gloom and depression, with loads of heavy, dark riffage and even a couple of
bluesy ballads. Enthusiasts of bands such as Abdullah, Pentagram, Down, Orodruin, Trouble, Pale Divine, VoodooShock, all things Wino, and most of all Place of Skulls should think of Wall of Sleep as a necessary part of their collection. PsycheDOOMelic should be congratulated and encouraged to put out more music like this. Let's doom!
Kevin McHugh
Label Site: www.psycheDOOMelic.com