Wall of Sleep Album Trilogy Part 1 of 3

Guest Writer: Ben Shaw

I have been to the top of vast mountain ranges. I have been to space. I have travelled across expanses of desert and galloped through medieval Hungary atop of a great mammoth.  I have even seen a wizard control the winds and seas. These wild claims will leave you with a conclusion to draw about my honesty and possibly my mental health. However, when you finish reading this article and seek out the cause of my delusions, then you too will sail to the riff-filled land where images of fantasy and glorious adventure are conjured. I bring you Hungarian Doomanoids, Wall of Sleep.

Wall of Sleep formed in Hungary in 2002 (or 2001 depending on your online source) and released their first EP in 2003; the raw and promising Overlook The All. The recording borrowed heavily from the gods of groovy doom heavy-metal and included a cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘The Wizard’. Between 2004 and 2007, Wall of Sleep released Slow, But Not Dead, Sun Faced Apostles and then ...And Hell Followed With Him – capturing a trilogy of dream inspiring rock music on disc. This three-part article, this act of supplication to the divine forces of the riff, will focus on these three albums. 

Despite its title, Slow, But not Dead (2004) isn’t even that slow! It kicks off with the bouncing riffage of ‘Far Away From Sunrise’ which almost feels like a driving song - full of thrust and purpose. Wall of Sleep excel in being able to straddle genres and styles within a single song, let alone an entire album. This is what I love most about them, as I mentioned earlier, I’ve been to a myriad of imagined landscapes thanks to their varying feel and mood.  True to form, the album takes an immediate change in direction on second track ‘Sysyphus’ Downhill Ride’ which lopes and swings like the arms of a drunken ape. This is the first time we hear hints at the majestic harmonies so prevalent in Wall of Sleep’s sound.

Third track ‘That’s Why’ is almost Soundgarden-esque in its chaotic rhythms.  It’s with the track ‘Soil’ that Wall of Sleep hit their straps and begin to spread their wings. The vocal harmonies of the intro pave the way to a huge poppy chorus that is so addictive, after one listen you’re picking through carpet fluff for signs of more.  ‘The Very Same’ bounces out of the speakers like Volume 4 era Sabbath,  which is followed by a brief interlude of country refrains from delay addled guitars. ‘Ornaments of Heaven” is a classic doom master piece.  'Inside Garden' is a rocky groover with hints of Skynyrd, testament to the band’s ability to produce heavily influenced music that still sounds unique.  I could write an entire piece about album closer ‘I Sleep’ and the relationship I’ve had with the song since I first saw the YouTube video of it being performed live. 

The opening riff conjures images of beached sea monstrosities being clubbed to death by colossal iron titans in slow motion. When the drums and bass kick in we are taken away from the horror of the monsters and transported to the glory and tragedy of brave men on windswept battles fields. The song ebbs and flows through vistas of depression, victory and eventual flight from the mortal world.

I am, of course, making massive assumptions about the meaning of lyrics but this is precisely where my love of Wall of Sleep stems from. They have the ability to fuel my imagination exponentially. The vocals and the guitars interweaving and the meeting of harmonies reduce me to a child hearing Iron Maiden for first time thinking how are they doing this!?!?. It could be that everyone has a particular harmony that will always ring true for them, it may be that I was incredibly stoned when I heard ‘I Sleep’ which enhanced the experience beyond the reality of the situation. Whatever occurred, it was one of those times when you hear a bit of music and the world seems like it was made for you. And this is only Wall of Sleep’s third best album…

Thanks to Ben and be sure to check out the band at:

 http://www.myspace.com/wallofsleepdoommusic

Evisorax Tour Diary

Here is the only section of Dan's tour diary from Evisorax's tour with Wormrot.

31/08/2011

The night before it all began.

Travelling to to Magor was a complete disaster. After loading into the van at my house, we decided it would be a clever time-saver to make use of the M6 toll....WRONG DECISION!
We missed our turning and the Sat Nav sent us back in a circle - meaning we incurred the toll twice. Besides this, we then had to pay a third time when crossing the Severn Bridge!

With fuel on top of all this, our drummer Brod’s credit card was feeling the heat. After leaving Wigan at three pm we finally arrived at Magor four hours later.

On approaching the front door of my mother’s house, it dawned on me just who was waiting beyond and just what was expected of us, starting from tomorrow morning. A mixture of intense nervous excitement began to whirl around as I made my way through to the garden, where the Wormrot crew were already drinking - desperately trying to muster an ice breaker, the following exchange occurred: 'I’ve brought a beer bong!' ’Good one, dickhead!'

                                                 (This is where the real grind happens)

Needless to say, copious amounts of alcohol consumption, smoking and beer bongs went on late into the night. These festivities were followed by a boxer short hot tub session, naturally. I crawled into my bed feeling as if I’d suffered a stroke, the fear of the impending hangover kicked in as I drifted off..............

01/09/2011.

Cardiff – The undertone.

To wake up with a mouth like a desert and your head feeling like it’s in an eternal washing machine spinning motion is bad enough, but knowing the tour began that morning just made it fucking agonising! Thankfully a mega sized breakfast (which Wormrot referred to as ‘steroid food’) and an alarming amount of coffee and smokes sorted me, although unloading the backline from our vehicle then into the tour bus wasn’t a great deal of fun. It was like a giant game of Tetris, although Brod must have played it a great deal seeing as he was able to organise it all with his eyes shut.

The tour bus was driven by Heath Derrig of Fargo tours and he took a great deal of pleasure in informing us that Slayer and Slipknot had used the bus before.......knickers became moist. During the ride to Cardiff, one thing became blindingly obvious, Wormrot fucking smoke heavily. These guys have fucking iron lungs, man - if there was an Olympic event for smoking then these guys would take the gold.

On arrival at the venue, the first of what would become a daily recurring problem began…stairs. Lugging the entire backline, including over-sized bass and guitar cabs up and down multiple flights of narrow staircases soon became a fucking hassle. Although it wasn’t all negative - the first of what would become a certainty for each night began: riders! Free beer, free food......... a guy could get used to this!

I could hardly keep myself from throwing up before we played, not only was this the first time I’d played a show in over two years, it would also be the first time Brod, Chris and I had ever even run through a song together. Never mind in front of an ever increasing crowd whilst on tour with Wormrot. When we hit that stage I was fucking raging. I wanted to rip faces off and ruin people’s lives; my body was full of adrenaline.

From the second Brod hit the snare, we were off, full force fucking rage! Offending everyone, full on confrontation and no holding back. I don’t remember a great deal of the stage time, just that I was convulsing and enjoying every second, ramming into the crowd and knocking people over. Though half way through, cramp set in, I'd forgotten how demanding this could be. The show was a complete success and people raided our merch table and actually wanted things to be signed.

After Evisorax being defunct for so long, the relief was incredible. Wormrot destroyed the place, every person in there went mental.  The amazing reality dawned on me that I would be able to watch this every night for free and get to play as well. It doesn’t get any better.