Sleeping Giant – The Beauty of Obliteration

Iceland, the land of fire and ice, rocks. Sleeping Giant native to the arctic island got heavy metal in their veins. Musically it’s a ripper. Heavy. Riff packed, guitar pyrotechnics. A smashing battery. Metal fans will love this album. I got an issue, a very minor one.

Fans of Down, Eye Hate God, Neurosis and similar American Doom bands, add in a dose of Bongzilla, Obituary, Hellacopters and few other legendary metalers. Growling vocals are not my favorite style. Every once in awhile the music is so tight, such a groove overrides the vocal style.

Their musicianship is impressive. A six-piece band with full mastery of their heavy rock history. I can close my eyes, envision the musical tree of heavy rock. Sleeping Giant are a low hanging bud, ripe for the picking. The band self describes their sound, “six-Reykjavik born burnouts play a fusion of stoner, doom, thrash and sludge metal with heavy emphasis on tasty riffs, pungent grooves and guttural vocals.”

On point description, for this music fan. Recorded live, the half dozen songs deliver a relentless aural thumping on your ears. This is a song set meant to turn up the volume. Let your neighbors or the car next to you at the traffic signal know what great heavy rock sounds like. None of that lightweight endlessly looped small song setlist on satellite or terrestrial radio. A tight punchy rocker radio would shit the bed if they had to play this one. I dare them.

Think, early Slayer and Metallica make a metal baby. The songs just rip. Stop reading here, listen to the intro to “Venom Ripper, Gorgon Blaster”. You’ll see what I mean in the first 15 seconds. Metal fury.

The first song, “Conqueror” sets the tone. A heavy doom groove, smashed with a dirty South bluesy influence. The godfathers Black Sabbath influence is evident. Their influences go beyond the stoner doom scene. The last track, “Abysmal Flame” is a galvanized Led Zeppelin, Clutch smash up. An interesting sonic amalgam, groove stoner rock sound meets, classic era arena rock.

Their debut album, The Beauty of Obliteration is a spark in the heavy metal furnace of greater songcraft in years ahead. The energy of their songs ebbs and flows, molten lava like, explosive and loud to rumbling, and rolling just under the surface. Sharp chorus sections, pounding and punching guitar bridge sections.

A strong contender for top 10 album of the year list. Sleeping Giant kicks off another new year in modern metal music. It’s a great start to a year of new music.

6 songs – 35 minutes.

PS, Hey metal fan, follow the link Sleeping Giant’s bandcamp. Just a general internet search brings up a Christian metal band. Just don’t.