The concept might sound original at first, but the music of this trio, which has been around since 2009, is clearly not. Antero Sleeps combine a rather ambitious science fiction story (obviously set on Titan) with sludgy Doom Rock as you know it from High On Fire and earlier Mastodon. What you get here are aliens, genetic mutation, military hunt and a lot of stereotyped drama as far as the plot is concerned.
Plodding along in a subtly melodic manner, „Whispers And Stardust“ opens up quite bleakly with hoarse vocals and no compelling motif at all, but turns out to be kind of an intro to„The Fall Of Gellar Elias“ (one of the characters) the first of two key songs with a length of roughly a quarter hour each. Antero Sleeps start off with a minimalistic arrangement, nicely shifting between harmonious and dissonant chords that make for a moody atmosphere instead of a memorable tune. The vocals, partly screamed, add to this impression, and in case the whole story leaves you entirely cold, the song will do so as well, notwithstanding a picturesque interlude without distortion and the expectedly more vehement ending.
„Transformation“ serves as another interlude in itself, this time on strummed acoustic guitar with a droning echo behind it. Here, the decent production helps enforce an intimate ambience, which is what such a breather should do in the first place, so this track is a winner, the more so as it calmly segues into „Calimbian Flight“. With this grooving behemoth (crawling up a Post Rock wall of sound), Antero Sleeps don't submit the most diverse tune either, but the main riff and lyrics, which are pronounced more clearly, proove that the band is capable of writing distinct songs.
For this album, it shall remain the only one, as closer „The Funeral Dirge“, the other 15 minute epic, gets drawn out too long, admittedly with beautifully shimmering open chords and melodic ideas which point towards a future that may have more remarkable music in store. For now, Antero Sleeps are no nuisance, but solid emulators of a well-known sound and thus redundant.
words : Andreas Schiffmann
Ha! Mastondon? High On Fire? If these are your reference points regarding this music you've really got to get out more.
ReplyDelete