Oh, Sleeper Says All Will Go Hoarse "When I Am God"
I listened to and reviewed an Oh, Sleeper album and fans of their music quickly came to tell me I can't call them how I see them. I mean, I must be wrong about not liking their 2011 album "Children Of Fire" if people who do like it tell me I am. (Cough, spit, fart, sarcasm.) However, I was moved by the influx of hate mail and decided I should check out some more Oh, Sleeper!
The album "When I Am God" actually featured one track I enjoyed a good deal: " The Color Theft." The rest were a hit and miss bunch that did not feel as shiny as some of the crap-tracks on the newer album, but then you usually expect that going backwards in time.
"Vices Like Vipers": "Your lips still drip intentions," some cool lyrics in the opening and then all hell rips out. There is some punk-elvis sneer in the yell-o (not screamo, mind you) vocals. I've heard other Oh, Sleeper songs that faintly reminded me of Suicidal Tendencies and that ever relevant desire for a Pepsi. Ripping out Hell is like ripping out a fart after eating Indian food, you've got to be careful or you'll poop all over yourself and people will laugh and call you an immature kid. Oh, Sleeper has managed to keep their pants stain free on this one.
"I Will Welcome The Reaping": Some of it is just a guy losing his voice from yelling a bunch and then some of it is cool tuneage, which is better than tuna. (now I'm just trying to be annoying!) Save the dolphins! I prefer my yell-o music not too be too squeaky and they accommodated me.
"We Are The Archers": Blah, blah, blah, I don't care.
"Charlatan's Host": If you listen to this as an album experience the wall of sound has been erected here and it's just a head bashing dead end of the same old screamy-weamy-boo-hoo. People who can't fathom reality without labels might become irate if you call it screamo music, but Oh, Sleeper earns the badge of screamo logically through sound descriptive available.
"The Color Theft": They touch this song with the emo brush even if heavy metal fans of the music don't want to admit it. I'm not saying that as if it makes the song bad, it actually works and makes the song good as they pull the strings perfectly to make the puppet dance in such a way that you feel the emotion. You don't see Pinocchio, you see a real boy. Out of one album and fours songs of Oh, Sleeper material this is my favorite thus far.
"To Flagship": It doesn't matter what you're saying if I don't like how you're saying it. I didn't really grasp anything in the lyrics to excuse the dull scraping the back of the throat vocals.
"His Name Was Bishop": His name was Monotosaurus "Kinard" Rex.
"Building The Nations": This is the type of music I would imagine myself singing as a little kid. On this track Oh, Sleeper makes it adult and not kiddie, they pull that much off, there is some solid roar here. Screamo poetry 101 is easy to flunk out of, but Oh, Sleeper pulled it off for a passing grade on "Building Nations." Of course they are not in the genre of "screamo" if you subscribe to genres. I'm just saying, this song is: "I'm yelling, stuff, that is meaningful to me as I see the world, join me!" And you join them on this one, others: not so much.
"Revelations In The Calm": A little diddy soft in vocals, machine riff lined in music, and builds to a quick end of deep breathing theatrics. The ending works as a difference maker of creativity, sometimes I like sudden endings in movies and books and it is not used often enough in music. I would love it if Beyonce started a song and then took a deep breath a few notes in and just ended it.
"The End Of A Dark Campaign": I keep hearing the word lips in lyric after lyric, maybe I am hearing things, as I am not looking at a lyric sheet, but lips, they seem to like them. It was rocking along, but then the plate wobbled and fell off the stick.
The album "When I Am God" actually featured one track I enjoyed a good deal: " The Color Theft." The rest were a hit and miss bunch that did not feel as shiny as some of the crap-tracks on the newer album, but then you usually expect that going backwards in time.
"Vices Like Vipers": "Your lips still drip intentions," some cool lyrics in the opening and then all hell rips out. There is some punk-elvis sneer in the yell-o (not screamo, mind you) vocals. I've heard other Oh, Sleeper songs that faintly reminded me of Suicidal Tendencies and that ever relevant desire for a Pepsi. Ripping out Hell is like ripping out a fart after eating Indian food, you've got to be careful or you'll poop all over yourself and people will laugh and call you an immature kid. Oh, Sleeper has managed to keep their pants stain free on this one.
"I Will Welcome The Reaping": Some of it is just a guy losing his voice from yelling a bunch and then some of it is cool tuneage, which is better than tuna. (now I'm just trying to be annoying!) Save the dolphins! I prefer my yell-o music not too be too squeaky and they accommodated me.
"We Are The Archers": Blah, blah, blah, I don't care.
"Charlatan's Host": If you listen to this as an album experience the wall of sound has been erected here and it's just a head bashing dead end of the same old screamy-weamy-boo-hoo. People who can't fathom reality without labels might become irate if you call it screamo music, but Oh, Sleeper earns the badge of screamo logically through sound descriptive available.
"The Color Theft": They touch this song with the emo brush even if heavy metal fans of the music don't want to admit it. I'm not saying that as if it makes the song bad, it actually works and makes the song good as they pull the strings perfectly to make the puppet dance in such a way that you feel the emotion. You don't see Pinocchio, you see a real boy. Out of one album and fours songs of Oh, Sleeper material this is my favorite thus far.
"To Flagship": It doesn't matter what you're saying if I don't like how you're saying it. I didn't really grasp anything in the lyrics to excuse the dull scraping the back of the throat vocals.
"His Name Was Bishop": His name was Monotosaurus "Kinard" Rex.
"Building The Nations": This is the type of music I would imagine myself singing as a little kid. On this track Oh, Sleeper makes it adult and not kiddie, they pull that much off, there is some solid roar here. Screamo poetry 101 is easy to flunk out of, but Oh, Sleeper pulled it off for a passing grade on "Building Nations." Of course they are not in the genre of "screamo" if you subscribe to genres. I'm just saying, this song is: "I'm yelling, stuff, that is meaningful to me as I see the world, join me!" And you join them on this one, others: not so much.
"Revelations In The Calm": A little diddy soft in vocals, machine riff lined in music, and builds to a quick end of deep breathing theatrics. The ending works as a difference maker of creativity, sometimes I like sudden endings in movies and books and it is not used often enough in music. I would love it if Beyonce started a song and then took a deep breath a few notes in and just ended it.
"The End Of A Dark Campaign": I keep hearing the word lips in lyric after lyric, maybe I am hearing things, as I am not looking at a lyric sheet, but lips, they seem to like them. It was rocking along, but then the plate wobbled and fell off the stick.
DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION:
The Contributor has no connection to nor was paid by the brand or product described in this content.
The Contributor has no connection to nor was paid by the brand or product described in this content.
Published by Wes Laurie
Wes Laurie is a freelance writer who covers whatever topic happens to inspire him. View profile
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9 Comments
Post a CommentThe song was just a bunch of blah,blah blah that didn't make me care? Open to interpretation! I should probably just go with STARS or a rating system of some sort, most people probably just look at that and don't read any way. I'm more likely to ask a friend what they thought of an album than read a review and my friends would not go into some analytical dissection, most likely say it sucks or doesn't. I can't impose myself into being people's friends so I lean the other way a bit because snarky Simon Cowell type stuff gets more page views.
Ok, you do make some valid points. Keep it short and sweet if you want, but how is "blah blah blah" even a review?
On top of that, I really hate reading long winded reviews, 99% of all reviews out there bore the hell out of me.
And therefore I have then set myself apart from other reviewers you may have been reading, I am the one you dislike and don;t read! But, one can be guaranteed to see how I really feel about the music every time, though sometimes probably hard to decipher, because I reviewed it/ experienced and did so putting on a very critical hat/ persona because the music industry is polluted these days with phony products and for me to embrace something means it really impressed in some way/ or was listened to in the right moment considering all reviews are subjective and influenced by outside forces subliminally.
If one just reads a single random review on the Internet and makes their decision based off of someone else's taste that makes no sense. I am definitely just one speck on a big beach. As for "blah, blah, blah" not being valid - my review style is I type how the music makes me feel, I am not typing about technical or setting out to describe and give away the details of what the music is specifically. If I hate something and it makes me feel like it is just a bunch of "blah, blah, blah" then why would I waste extra time giving it words it does not deserve from me?
I disagree Josh, I think you are just used to a certain type of formula. I think reviews in general end up being useless! Everyone should form their own opinion and when they check in with a specific reviewer or review source it would be because they are A.) curious to that person or sources opinion because of how they have identified with their opinions and tastes in the past, otherwise, who gives a crap what someone else thinks about something you can access yourself? Who wants someone else to form their opinion for them?
Ok, I respect your right to have a different opinion about the music.
However, as a music reviewer, you should be actually saying what the pros and cons for the music are, instead of giving song reviews like, "Blah, blah, blah, I don't care.". That really does absolutely nothing for anyone reading this reviews. All that tells them is that you don't like it, which isn't a very useful review.
Why should reviews be done only by people who regularly listen to a genre? The planet is loaded with people who may or may not come in contact with the band's music. It would be just like the movie reviewers who get paid and pampered by studios to write positive things about their movies.
Kay, man.
The comments to "Children of fire" were not hate mail.
They were people complaining about someone who CLEARLY has something against Oh Sleeper being allowed to do scathing reviews on them and hurting their image for no reason whatsoever.
I respect that you don't like the genre. But please, let someone who appreciates metal do the "screamo" reviews?