"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you", Ephesians 5:14. A lot of bands write music about any odd thing they can piece together. Mostly, it will be about certain struggles or individual experiences of the writer. Sometimes, however, the band as a whole writes and plays for a specific cause. Any band that really knows what they dedicate their sound to usual does a good job of it too. That’s why I believe Oh, Sleeper has lyrical efficiency on their side. They know who they’re playing for. With their first full length album, ‘When I Am God’, they quickly accumulated a fan base dedicated to their unique metal style. The majority of the genre listeners however took issue with their sound, as it held little musical structure, but hopefully with their sophomore release, ‘Son of the Morning’, they can claim a few new listeners.The album opens quick and strong with the title track, embracing a formula of odd and on time chugging as well as some pro tweadling from the lead guitarist. A successful breakdown fuels the pace before they represent their progress as a band with a wise inclusion of exquisite clean vocals front and background. Slowing it down at first, ‘The New Breed’ carries on the album successfully. It’s not as intense as ‘Son of the Morning’, but makes a loud point nevertheless. This is enough already to show that their sound hasn’t changed much, which is good. They’re holding tight to the signature sound they’ve found, but tweaked it a bit at the same time. The song structure is obviously more fixed down, giving it a more professional sound overall since their last release. ‘In All Honesty’ opens up strangely with some almost off tune singing reminiscent of Underoath in their ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’ days, but it moves into story-telling passion soon enough. The way it’s all pieced together, it really sounds like I’m listening to a story being told. Different vocal patterns keep popping up at different intervals and overlap, like a scene with characters. They accomplish this well, as ‘Son of the Morning’ is a concept album.
‘Breathing Blood’ blasts through in the usual style at first, but softens up for a minute or so demonstrating the band’s level of transition from heavier parts, which is good for the most part. Even at softer times, the intensity is still evident. The clean vocals are effective, trimming up the harsher parts nicely. They have found a much steadier balance in this release than in ‘When I Am God’.
‘Reveries of Flight’ has a long, slow, monologue-like opening. But then it steps straight up suddenly, leading off into a decent remainder. ‘World Without a Sun’ is a gem of a song though. I dare you not to smile and clench your gut at the increasing kick pedal role and dauntingly long opening scream at the start. A sick, but weird riff pulls it along into a breakdown that essentially lasts the remainder of the song, ending it short in my opinion. In ‘A Banquet For Traitors’, a back and forth swing of breakdowns to harmonies exhibits the band’s love for ugly notes and some of the stranger noises a guitar can make, then ends angrily in a fit of metal essence. The pace is cut short with another slow intro into ‘Commissioned By Kings’, but quickly throws a lot at you at once. Constant showboating by drummer Matt Davis and lead guitarist Shane Bay is proceeded by a short singing interlude to let the audience breathe. This is drowned back out by another blast of metal concentrate, riling you up for ‘The Finisher’.
A final end to the album (that came too quickly for me) truly narrates a battle of unearthly proportions. A choir-esque harmony fills in the gaps of pure head banging terror. With ears twitching from musical ecstasy, packing no less than a couple of mini guitar solos, I couldn’t ask for a better end to the album than the overall power of the very last breakdown, with the vocalist screaming “I’ll cut off your horns!”.
‘Son of the Morning’ is very lyrically driven, telling the story of the final battle between God and the devil. The opening song is cleverly structured, with the screaming vocals being the devil speaking, “Where I'll lead them and teach them to feast on the skin that defeats them, the skin they crave”, and the clean harmonies being God’s responses to him, “If you could see like me you'd see you haven't won anything. If you could see like me you'd see, it's by my grace that you're breathing." ‘The New Breed’ speaks about rising up from the filth of the world and claiming a place on the side of God.
‘In All Honesty’ and ‘Breathing Blood’ both narrate people wishing for God to turn their sinful lives around. “Please teach me how to breathe because this air keeps failing my need.” Then, the end begins in ‘World Without A Sun’, just like Revelation says, with the sun turning black. The battle against hell takes place in ‘The Fire Dawn’, narrating an individual fighting the legions of hell outnumbered “one on one-thousand”. Finally, to end it all, ‘The Finisher’ contains God’s final speech to the devil, informing him that he will soon lose the battle he started. “Your challenge has been met, because with a breath I could snap your neck. This won’t be like the first time you tried, because my patience and mercy for you has run dry.”
In this album, I can find no flaws other than things they probably should have included, like a little more range in the lead vocals, or some more time to show off the amazing skill of the lead guitarist. But the structure is solid this time, not so pieced together like ‘When I Am God’. They threw a lot at me at once, but it wasn’t too crowded to enjoy. Usually one end is chugging and the other is continuously shredding like he has ADD. The drummer kept it interesting by changing up the beat often, and overall they play with such an urgency that makes your heart race. I had to hold myself back from screaming along some parts, but my fingers wouldn’t stop tapping along with the drums. The second album is always a tough hill to cross, but I believe they managed well. I give ‘Son of the Morning’ 4 out of 5 napkins for a “pretty great but not perfect”.
Artist: Oh, Sleeper
Album: Son of the Morning
Label: Solid State
Release: August 25, 2009
Length: 32:23
Rating: 4/5
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