Sleeping Giant - Sons of Thunder
Rating
RIYL
Bury Your DeadFarewell to Freeway
Endwell
Hands
Release Date
06/23/2009
Label
Facedown RecordsTracklist
1. Gang Signs2. No One Leaves This Room Sick
3. Sons Of Thunder
4. Descending Into Hell
5. The Streets Don't Lie
6. The Army Of The Chosen One
7. I've Seen
8. Confession
9. He Will Reign
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Sleeping Giant’s debut album, Dread Champions of the Last Days, was panned pretty hard here at Decoy and for good reason – it was nearly unlistenable. Honestly, I thought they’d break up or fade into oblivion after such an abysmal release, but like many subpar members of Facedown Records’ roster, they hung around, stuck with it, and are now back again, but this time around, fortunately, with Sons of Thunder we have a more listenable experience.
This album is definitely a tale of two sides to the same band. You got the feeling on their debut that they were trying to experiment every now and again, but were still firmly planted in the standard, clichéd, Christian hardcore arena. With Sons of Thunder the band now almost completely differentiates themselves from song to song by either staying true to their hardcore roots or, on the longer tracks of this album, stepping into a more textured slow-burn metalcore. From listening to the progress the band has made when putting together longer, building compositions, it’s a complete letdown to listen to the straight up hardcore tracks, which are all underwhelming and feel like they were included on the album just to appease older fans.
The title track is absolutely epic and, I feel somewhat odd saying it, maybe one of the best hardcore tracks I’ve heard this year. Even the overtly preachy bible quoting in the intro can’t ruin this long, slow-building, melancholic, and hopeful song. For once the Christian background of the band feels natural as the song radiates a spiritual feel, instead of the forcefully preaching nature of some of their other songs. If there were ever a metalcore version of a prayer, “Sons of Thunder” would be it. You can feel the spirituality of the band flowing through the song as it builds to a pummeling climax about five minutes in, at which point the band hammers home the song with grinding guitars and chants of “See you in Armageddon!”
After such a powerful track, you’re thrown one of the better hardcore tracks on the album, “Descending Into Hell,” but it’s still jarring to go from something so amazing to something so formulaic. The band then oscillates back to their newfound sound, mixing in some potentially song-killing quasi-rap, but it’s not necessarily as bad as it sounds. The grinding guitars make a return, as well as the ethereal tinged vocals used a few other places on the album, all for great effect. Still, this just accentuates the gulf between the two identities of the band.
If you were to take “Sons of Thunder”, “The Streets Don’t Lie”, “The Army of the Chosen One” (which has Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter contributing a solid vocal performance), and “I’ve Seen” (where Sleeping Giant play to some Modern Life Is War influences) and create a four song EP, it would easily be a four star rated EP. As it stands, though, beyond those four tracks you have a bunch of standard hardcore and a horribly clichéd and plodding piano ballad of a closing track.
Somehow, some way, Sleeping Giant need to embrace the new direction they're taking and focus exclusively on their progressive elements. They simply don’t do straight up hardcore that well. They do, however, pull off some progressive metalcore very adequately. A lot of potential has been uncovered on Sons of Thunder which wasn’t apparent that the band possessed when listening to their debut. Sleeping Giant are making strides forward and they need to continue growing to truly make an impact on the musical landscape that previously laughed them aside.
--Rick Gebhardt
Comments
PA
2.5? Wow, it must be better than their last piece of garbage record.
Music Blog.
Depths blog. (my band)
Minnesota
It is. It really is... but there's still a lot of room for improvement, as you'd notice if you read the review :-)
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PA
I don't know how to read reviews.
Music Blog.
Depths blog. (my band)
Lehigh Valley, PA
I like their last album better than this, surprisingly enough. I dig their lyrical content. Musically, they're nothing spectacular but I like the fact they don't hold back their faith in their music. I don't know... I don't mind this album or this band.
Minneapolis, MN
I refuse to listen to this band anymore. The preaching is just too much. After seeing them live and listen to their vocalist tell the crowd that all they have to do is pray and any health problem or wound will be healed, I walked out. It's bullshit and all it does is give kids false hopes. Of course at the Christian venue, the kids ate this up.
Some of these heavier Christian bands seem to be out there for attention just as much as rock stars, they just attract that attention in a different way.
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Minnesota
I totally agree about the preaching being totally lame, especially when it's so over-the-top and whacked-out shit. It's the main reason I avoid seeing most "Christian" bands in a live setting. I just end up getting pissed off. Sure, I'm ok with a "Thanks for everything, Jesus," or, "We love God, just wanted you to know," every now and again, but the preaching shit is just uber-lame.
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