 As many of your dear readers will undoubtedly agree, fantastical escapism is a potent elixir with a massively significant appeal. The opportunity to leave behind the doldrums and anxieties of the cursed real world, even if ever so briefly, is an opportunity worth taking every damn time. A little adventure is more often than not the balm to sooth our burnout, and, as such, we scribes spend a lot of time imagining worlds and characters that exist outside the stringent lines of reality. Call us nerds if you want. Hell, we welcome it. We wear the label proudly.
The same rings true, I can only imagine, for L.A.'s own Loot The Body. Overtly inspired by the dungeon-crawlin' world of, well, Dungeons and Dragons, this one-man adventuring party writes rockin' tunes about the various flora, fauna, and fantastical tribulations of the franchise in question. His latest 6-track EP, the appropriately entitled Hex Volume 1, is a little more hefty and riff-centric than prior work, but no less enjoyable. Indeed, for metalheads like us, this foray into a slightly more aggressive sonic arena goes down reeeeal smooth. Introductions out of the way, we're very pleased to present here today the music video for opening track "White Plume Mountain." Check it out below, and, as always, we'll catch ye on the other side!
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 While we slumbering scribes do have a certain affection for bludgeoning our earholes, we also have a demonstrated affection for the ambient leanings of Texas' own Slow Draw. A side project of Stone Machine Electric's Mark Kitchens, Slow Draw has been consistently putting out music that encourages a moment of respite--much like, it should be noted, our premiere earlier this week. We ran a double review of the excellent Gallo last year, as well as a brief writeup of the 4-track Quiet Joy, which may have claimed the throne as my favorite Slow Draw release...upon until this particular moment, that is.
The fantastic Yellow & Gold is out today, and is very much worth checking out, in this humble scribes opinion. We'll point you in the right direction soon enough, but in the meantime, we're honored to present the music video for "The Project," one of my favorite tracks on the, erm, project. As always, we'll catch you on the other side!  "Composed by human, played by physical robots." Frankly, Electromancy's is one of the more intriguing elevator pitches that has slid across my desk here at Ye Olde Sleeping Village Industries. Besides piquing curiosity in regards to the actual sound of the purported experimental black/death metal, the notion of robots playing music raises a lot of questions on a practical level. As it turns out, this is no mere gimmick: composer Satyra was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2018, which made playing instruments an impossibility. As such, they spent two years designing robots specifically for the task at hand: playing the music.
Given the potential complexity in ability, Electromancy is able to do things that human instrumentalists are not. That alone presents a very existing avenue for exploration, and on "The Spark," the track (and accompanying video) that we are pleased to present here today, a taste of that potential experimentation and oddity is on full display. However, before we scare you away with our ramblings, we recommend giving "The Spark" a watch and listen below. See those robots in action!  HOT RAM. If you know 'em, you undoubtedly love 'em...'cuz frankly, what's not to love? This crew from Atlanta exists in an arena where big riffs, big fuzz, big groove, and a hard rocking attitude are pretty much par for the course. Back in 2019 we reviewed their killer album Where Light Goes To Die--an album that (prophetically) remains in constant rotation to this day, due to a strong tendency to provide intriguing songwriting in a genre that is regrettably bogged down by repetition. Indeed, as I stated back then: "As much as I love the genre, we all know the truth of the matter: in the hazy confines of stoner rock, sophistication and brevity aren't always the qualities most sought. HOT RAM throw that stereotype in the woodchipper, delivering six massive (yet varied) bangers."
Needless to say, this particular slumbering scribe is very pleased to present the first single from HOT RAM's forthcoming follow-up. The album in question, Electric Medicine, will undoubtedly receive a little more attention around these parts upon its release on May 21st, but for the meantime, we highly recommend checking out the excellent "Grave of Arch Stanton" below! As always, we'll see you on the other side!  As a highfalutin scribe here at this well-respected establishment, I am typically loathe to pilfer turns of phrase directly from press kits. However, in the case of LEACH, I can hardly resist: "If it’s burly, melodic, and fits together perfectly, it’s probably from Sweden. LEACH certainly fall into the above categories, and their warts-and-all style of thrash 'n' roll is just begging for a throwdown." I couldn't, quite frankly, say it any better myself.
Today, we're pleased and honored to present the music video for LEACH's "D.O.D," a bonus track from their upcoming full length entitled Lovely Light of Life. This hefty track features none other than Björn “Speed” Strid of Soilwork vox fame. Needless to say, it's worth checking out....which, incidentally, you can do below. As always, we'll meet ye on the flip side!  Always desperate for some entertainment of the visual persuasion, we here at the Sleeping Village constructed ourselves, a few years back, a venue of sorts--a public performance space designed to house the raunchiest productions around. As with most venues, our humble playhouse has seen very little traffic as of late, and so when our friends at the venerable Metal Assault Records offered the opportunity to feature something new and entertaining, our slumbering populace practically leapt at the chance.
Push aside the cobwebs and vines, dear reader. Kick away the decaying ravens and piles of loam; the show is about to begin. Today, for your viewing pleasure, the Sleeping Village is pleased to present the (deeply avant-garde) music video for "Narci," the title track from (deep breath) anonymous international synth doom collective Circle of Sigh's forthcoming second full-length album. It is a weird and wonderful track, and an impressive video to boot. However, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I wholeheartedly recommend you watch for yourself. As always, we'll meet ye on the other side!  Here's a rare occurrence 'round these parts: a music video premiere. And a 22 minute video at that! We don't just clean the cobwebs out of our decrepit theatre for anyone, however, so rest assured knowing that the spectacle before ye is well worth your while.
The track and video in question forms the entirety of Side B of Live Improvisations Vol. 1, the forthcoming, well, improvisational release from French anonymous genre-bending and convention-eschewing collective Non Serviam, out May 1st on the (always stellar) Trepanation Recordings. If you're already familiar with Non Serviam's prior work, "Improvisation 2. Take 1. Ce Qui Dure" doesn't stray too far from what you may be expecting. The whole affair is wrapped up in a distantly baroque swaddle, but the telltale hints of post-metal by way of doom by way of industrial by way of avant-garde are as present and impactful as always. The video itself features a series of seemingly disassociated locations and events--not a narrative per se, so much as juxtapositions that mirror the overall spirit and emotion of the particular moment. But! Before I scare you away with my ramblings, we slumbering scribes highly recommend that you fire up "Improvisation 2. Take 1. Ce Qui Dure" post-haste. As always, we'll meet you on the other side.  As indicated by the general scope of our output this week, the name of the game as of late is brevity. Nobody has the time nor energy to stick through an arduous slog, and thus, we're embracing music that is over practically as soon as it begins. Case in point: today's band--and 48 second music video--in question.
Xeno Ooze, for those regrettably unfamiliar, are a sci-fi lovin' and death-grindin' unit out of Arizona. Their 2019 debut effort, the excellent Parasligm, was quite well received amongst the metal blog-o-sphere, and while I never did get around to penning a writeup myself, their brand of frenetically slam-imbued grind/powerviolence/crust left one hell of an impact. This was (and is) music for violent incidents in the cosmos, for obliteration at the hand of extraterrestrials. In other words: sign us up. Parasligm routinely receives airtime 'round these parts, and so when news of their followup effort breached our Village inbox, I was more than happy to do my part. We're honored to present here today the (animated!) music video for "Swillbirth," a standout track on their forthcoming Slimewave EP. Without further ado, cast yer earholes and eyeballs below.  Disillusioned as I am, this particular scribe simply won't consider a day complete unless it involves a good ol' depressive existential spiral. This routine harrowing glimpse into the bleakness of my future and the future of my future children requires, of course, an apt soundtrack, and I'm quite certain a sizable contingent of our readership would consider death doom a poor choice. In any case: the yard-long stare is engaged and the tears are primed to flow, so let's tuck in, shall we? Today, we are pleased to premiere a bangin' single from The Encompassing Nothing, the debut EP of Arizona's foreboding one-man Thorn. Comprised solely of the guitarist from sci-fi grindcore oufit Xeno Ooze (a band we love 'round these parts) and GLITTERBOMB (a harsh noise project with which we were shamefully unfamiliar,) a little extremity is to be expected, albeit in a significantly more cavernous end of the musical spectrum. Thorn plays a hearty conglomerate of bituminous doom and paleolithic death--not the most original take, sure, but certainly a high-quality paragon of the style. It's low, slow, somber, menacing, and coated in a dank grotto patina--or, in lieu of adjectives, just imagine the sonic representation of the album artwork before ye. Without further ado, check out "Fields Of Blight" below!  These days, it's a dangerous business--as a wise scribe once wrote--going out your door. For obvious reasons, it has been quite some time since we highfalutin peasants put on the ol' adventuring boots, packed our rucksacks, and headed out for the high road, a thirst for new scenery and unexpected encounters our only true motivation. As such, I'm particularly excited as of late to feature music that evokes a sense of fantastical adventure. Enter (the accurately moniker'd) Celtic Metal Dude--not a band, but a man who endeavors to create acoustic and folk covers of folk and metal. Said covers are accompanied by some of the most gloriously bombastic music videos I've had the pleasure of witnessing as of late. Much assorted headgear, swords, beer, barechestedness, tattoos, and general emotive enthusiasm await. Y'know, the usual folky metal shenanigan stuff. For reference, please see Exhibit A: 
Beyond the visual aesthetic, of course, is the music, which is frankly some of the most engaging of its ilk. Today's song in question is a joyous little ditty with exactly the dosage of uplifting vim and vigor that I suspect we all need right about now. It's got a woodsy charm, an infectious sense of jubilance, and a self-awareness that only the best of drinking songs possess. There's a delicious lushness to this track, from the lightfooted percussion, to the flute solo, to the gang vocals, which practically ooze camaraderie. I don't know how many more ways I can say that this is a helluva fun track, so there you have it. This is a helluva fun track, and I hope you enjoy as much as we slumbering villagers did. If this all sounds like your definition of a damn good time, check out the video for "High Adventure" below! This track, released today, is an original, but we'll let the Celtic Metal Dude speak on that in detail below. In the meantime: |
Welcome!We provide thoughtful reviews of music that is heavy, gloomy...and loud enough to wake us from slumber. Written by a highfalutin peasantry. What are ye
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