Album Review: The Sleeping - 'The Big Deep'

Made up of members from the remains of metlecore bands Skycamefalling and Stillwelle, 2004 formed Long Island, NY band The Sleeping have release 3 full lengthed albums before 'The Big Deep'. Now with their forth full lengthed album the band have grown and moved forward with their music, even though it has been less then 18months since their last offering ‘What It Takes’

The album kicks off with 'Dark Days', this is the perfect opener, it is aggressive and shows off the keyboard talent that resides in the band, this song is sung with the raw emotions evident in singer Doug Robinson’s voice. Followed by another great song ‘’Boroughs Of The Ocean’’ with its eerie keys and darker atmosphere.

Possible one of the standout songs in the album is next song ‘Beautiful Gloom’ more upbeat with a rockier sound which is quite catchy and unique. The uniqueness of this album is what makes it great. In my opinion a lot of generic, similar sounding albums come out all the time but 'The Big Deep' definitely stands out from the rest .

Following on is The 'Phantom of Darker Clouds', and it seems slightly out of place, to be honest this sounds like a jazz song on a rock album. Don’t get me wrong 'The Phantom of Darker Clouds' is a good song but it doesn’t particularly flow with the rest of the album.

Another softer song follows with 'Oh Gloria' but unlike its predecessor it feels more like it belongs. Although possibly my least favourite song on the album with its repetitive lyrics and dominate bass line it still captures the feel of the album. The fact that the previous song 'The Phantoms of Darker Clouds' does not fit, is soon forgotten when the album gets a little bit further in.

The album starts off strong and the ending song has the same effect, lead single ‘Young Vibes...Don’t Run Away From Me’ is full of energy and sounds raw and heart felt, It shows off the talent of the drummer and overall ends the album with a bang.

In my opinion The Sleeping have definitely produced a high quality album with ‘The Big Deep’ it flows fairly well with no boring or filler songs, the standout songs here are 'Dark Days', 'Beautiful Gloom' and 'Vibes...Don’t Run Away From Me;. This album shows of the talent of the band with its standout keys, heavy drumming and great guitar solos (especially in 'Black Waves'). A great combination of talented musicians has created a great forth album, it is evident that The Sleeping have definitely grown since their last offering.

1. "Dark Days" 4:08

2. "Buroughs of the Ocean" 2:35

3. "Beautiful Goom" 4:17

4. "Retired Spies (Change Your Life)" 3:37

5. "Defeaning the UK" 4:09

6. "The Phantom of Darker Clouds" 5:18

7. "Oh, Gloria" 4:53

8. "Get You Back" 3:41

9. "The Big Deep" 4:05

10. "Black Waves (Vaya con Dios)" 4:11

11. "Young Vibes... Don't Run Away From Me" 4:50