Sleeping Village Reviews
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!

GHOST - Skeletá (Review)

4/28/2025

0 Comments

 
Picture
Written by: Blackie Skulless

Please excuse this long, rambling intro, as we’re working in territory that I’ve been an expert in for a while, and witnessed all of its nuances in real time. Swedish masterminds Ghost have evolved from a freezing but straightforward brand of traditional metallers into pop-rock icons, especially with 2022’s Impera bringing them more commercial breakthroughs than ever before.

Sticking to the theme of dropping a full-length roughly every three years, they’ve come back and done what feels like a part-two for the first time ever. The first four records had their own identities subtracted from the style choice, strictly based on vibes. Opus Eponymous was a tried and true depiction of Satan taking over the world, while Infestissumam was our campy classic horror flick. Meliora brought forth an absence of light and hope, where Prequelle was a glamorous dark-romance around the end of humanity. After this, Tobias and Co. would craft an album chock-full of dissimilar, albeit enjoyable tunes in Impera; 2025’s Skeletá does exactly the same thing.


Read More
0 Comments

VEXING HEX - Into the Night (Mini-Review)

3/14/2024

0 Comments

 
In a continuing attempt to cover more music that would all-too-oft slip through the very large cracks, we slumbering scribes are making an effort to publish short reviews at a greater frequency, thereby shining our very small spotlight on more cool shit. Here's a mini-review of a fun and rockin' single I've had on repeat as of late!

Picture
Written by: The Administrator

Well, here I am, preliminarily getting hyped for the (hopefully?!) forthcoming sophomore album from Vexing Hex, one of my personal favorite Wise Blood Records affiliates.
​ 
​After re-releasing the excellent Haunt​ (see our review here!) as well as the spooky standalone single "Red Harvest" in 2020, these Illinoisan occult rockers have been pretty damn quiet. Needless to say, I was very excited to see the name pop back up on the ol' timeline, and even more excited to see that there was a shiny new single awaiting on Bandcamp. "Into the Night" is a great track, and has comfortably occupied rotation here at the Sleeping Village since release. A perfect candidate, methinks, for a pre-weekend mini-review. Let's dive in!

In one convenient package, "Into the Night" delivers all of the elements that made Vexing Hex initially stand out in a crowded field. Much like Ghost, they sit comfortably in the goth/psych rock arena while embracing a fundamental pop stickiness. As such, "Into The Night" occupies a notably enjoyable space--aesthetically macabre, yet notably upbeat and cheery. The chorus is catchy as all hell, a true earworm and a borderline radio-friendly singalong if only it were released in another era. The spooky gothic vibes are overt and tantalizingly campy. The guitar is bouncy and exciting, and a sly psychedelic current runs through the whole affair. There's little embellishments that add to the general fun--take, as a prime example, the little chimes or the subtly celebratory horns that sneak in at the tail end of the track. All told, this is a highly entertaining and highly replayable tune.

Yeah, I'm sold. "Into The Night" achieves all that an advance single should. If this serves as a harbinger for things to come on Vexing Hex's next album, we're inevitably in for something good.

Vexing Hex - "Into the Night" was released March 8th, 2024
. Find it here!


Vexing Hex can be found:
Bandcamp
Official Site

Linktree
0 Comments

NEGATIVE PLANE - The Pact (Review)

3/13/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Written by: Blackie Skulless

Despite having been around for over twenty years, Negative Plane are an act that only reached my radar at the beginning of this year. Being on their third album, these New York metallers dropped The Pact… last year, and somehow I didn’t get my hands on it until a few friends recommended them early this year; boy am I ever glad they did! Their brand of black metal is my absolute favorite way to carry out the genre, touching on the first wave vibes that use a lot of traditional and thrash metal influence under a coarse, wretched, and Satanic scope.

If only it were easy enough to describe it as that and end it there. As a matter of fact, their biggest selling point is the amount of layers and intricacy used, being displayed in seven long tracks that collectively touch the hour runtime. Yet, it’s riff after riff making an impression and sticking nicely. The harsh and noisy atmospheric platter makes the sharp leads and hateful vocals sound even more appetizing. You get a nice diverse selection of blistering, Venom-esque passages that use speed and rigidness, slow and doom-cladded breaks of bass frenzy to rake in a Celtic Frost image, and then straight up heavy metal clarity in the form of melodic guitars that feel like an ode to Saxon. One can’t be present without the other two looming in the background


Read More
0 Comments

    WELCOME!

    We provide thoughtful reviews of the music that wakes us from slumber. 
    ​
    Written by a highfalutin peasantry.


    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021

    Categories

    All
    666
    Acid Rock
    Adventure
    Afrobeats
    A High Quality Death Metal Album
    Album Announcement
    Album Premiere
    Album Stream
    Alternative Rock
    Alt Metal
    Alt-metal
    Ambient
    Americana
    Ampwall
    Antifascist
    AOTY
    Atmospheric
    Atmospheric Black Metal
    Atmospheric Doom
    Avant Garde
    Beats
    Beat Tape
    Blackened
    Blackened Death Metal
    Blackened Doom
    Blackened Thrash
    Black Metal
    Black 'n' Roll
    Boom-Bap
    Brooklyn Artemis
    Brutal Death Metal
    Cinematic
    Classic Albums
    Classic Rock
    Compilation Album
    Concept Album
    Cosmic Death Metal
    Cover Song
    Crossover
    Crust
    Crust Punk
    Cybergrind
    Cyber Metal
    Dark Ambient
    Dark Metal
    Darksynth
    Deathcore
    Death Doom
    Deathened Black Metal
    Deathgrind
    Death Metal
    Death Thrash
    Demo
    Demo Tape
    Desert Rock
    Dissonant Death Metal
    Djent
    Doom
    Doom Folk
    Doomgaze
    Doom Metal
    Doomviolence
    Dream Metal
    Dream Pop
    Drone
    Dungeon Synth
    Duskwave
    EDM
    Electronic
    Electronica
    Electronicore
    Emo
    EP
    Epic Metal
    Ethereal
    Europower
    Experimental
    Extreme Metal
    Faery-synth
    Family Friendly
    Fantasy
    Folk
    Folk Metal
    Fresh Meat Friday
    From The Archives
    Funeral Doom
    Fuzz
    Goregrind
    Gothic
    Goth Rock
    Grind
    Grindcore
    Groove Metal
    Gross Death Metal
    Grunge
    Guest Post
    Gym
    Hardcore
    Hard Rock
    Harsh Noise
    Haunting
    Heavy Metal
    Heavy Psych
    Heavy Rock
    Hellenic Black Metal
    Hip Hop
    Hip-Hop
    Horror
    Horrorcore
    Indie Rock
    Industrial
    Industrial Metal
    Instrumental
    Instrumental Hip Hop
    Interview
    Jazz
    Jazz Rap
    Lists 2022
    Mars Metal
    Mathcore
    Melodic Black Metal
    Melodic Death Metal
    Melodic Metal
    Meme Reviews
    Metalcore
    Metallic Hardcore
    Metallic Sludge
    Metal Reviews
    Micro Reviews
    Mini Reviews
    Modern Metal
    Music Video
    Neoclassical Metal
    Noise
    Nu Metal
    Nu-metal
    NWOBHM
    NWOTHM
    Occult
    Olde-reviews
    Old-school-death-metal
    On-the-horizon
    Orchestral
    OSDM
    Playlist
    Playlist Curation
    Pop
    Pop Rock
    Pop-rock
    Post Hardcore
    Post-hardcore
    Post Metal
    Post-metal
    Post Rock
    Post-rock
    Post-sludge
    Powerdeath
    Power Electronics
    Power Metal
    Powerviolence
    Prog
    Progressive Death Metal
    Progressive Metal
    Progressive Rock
    Progressive Thrash
    Prog Rock
    Proto-metal
    Psych
    Punk
    Rap
    Rap Reviews
    Raw Black Metal
    Release Day Roundup
    Retro Rock
    Retrospective Reviews
    Reviews
    RnB
    Rock
    Rock & Roll
    Sci Fi
    Sci-fi
    Shoegaze
    Singer-songwriter
    Ska
    Skate Punk
    Skramz
    Slam
    Sludge
    Soundcloud
    Soundtrack
    Speed Metal
    Split Releases
    Stoner
    Stoner Doom
    Stoner Metal
    Stoner Rock
    Stoner Thrash
    Swedeath
    Swedish Death Metal
    Symphonic Black Metal
    Symphonic Metal
    Synth
    Synthwave
    Techdeath
    Technical Death Metal
    Thrash Metal
    Top 10
    Track Premiere
    Track Reviews
    Traditional Doom
    Traditional Metal
    Trap
    Trippy
    Two Of A Perfect Pair
    UKHC
    Underground Rap
    USPM
    Year End Lists

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!