Wall of Sleep

Eveligh probably thinks I've sold out, variety has always been my goal, but I really do have a soft
spot for some of that good sludgy stoner doom.......so today, let's check out a pretty good one. From the land of Hungary, we have Wall of Sleep, who rose from the ashes of the (pretty great if you can find anything by them) The Mood.......Wall of Sleep consisted of guitarists Fuleiki Sandor and Greff Andros, vocalist Holdampf Gabor, bassist Marek Ferenc, and ace drummer Szolcsanyi Szaboles. They blasted out some better than average heavy-riffing, dark-lyriced stuff obviously influenced by Black Sabbath (as nearly every stoner/doom band to a degree), also finding some similarity with Cathedral, The Obsessed, and St. Vitus.
They garnered attention with the very good EP (2003), "Overlook the All", three good originals and a cover of Sabbath's "The Wizard".......this is a good disc, closer to the doom side of the coin than the stoner side, perhaps, and, oddly, (perhaps due to the vocalist), the Sabbath influence on these seem more of the "Blackmore Sabbath" (post-Ozzy) than the normal "Paranoid"-era influences......in general I was much less than a fan of "Blackmore Sabbath" (that's a joke, son), but the sound REALLY does work here....
The first proper LP was 2004's "Slow But Not Dead", a very solid album, easy 3-stars, "Far Away From the Sunrise", "Sysyphus' Downhill Ride" and the obligatory death-anthem "I Sleep" are all quite good, the riffing starts going a bit more in the stoner direction (think The Obsessed), if you like stoner/doom you likely have room for this on your self.
Which brings us to 2005's "Sun Faced Apostles", thier best effort by a HUGE margin and one you WILL want to make room on the shelf for. This thing simply slams out the killer riffs from word go (the stunning opener "On Pain of Birth"), on through great tune after great tune such as "Time of the Goblins" and "From the Bottom of These Days"......tremendous album, 4.5 stars, a semi-unknown classic of the stoner metal genre.....I highly recommend this one.
And, that was that pretty much......the next album, ".....And Hell Followed With Him" is pretty bad,
sludgy sound, lesser songs, uninspired vocals, the whole thing sounds thrown together......it's here if you want it.
2010 saw a bit of a comeback, at least better than the previous album.....the band acquired a new vocalist which seems to inspire things a bit, "When Mountains Roar", while nowhere near the quality of "Sun Faced Apostles", but at least it is significantly better than the lame "....And Hell Followed"........
Allegedly, they either have a new one out, or perhaps it is coming out soon, I don't care really all THAT much......here's the bottom line: if you are a big fan of stoner/doom metal, ya might want all of these.....if ya wanna dabble, "Sun Faced Apostles" is a semi-classic that transcends genre, a hard rocking masterpiece that you will love.......
I may not get anything up the next couple of days as the wife and I have an anniversary (27th) to celebrate and likely we'll go somewhere or something........so probably Monday or Tuesday, I'll get something else up for you wonderful folks, but for now, I hope the Suicide and Wall of Sleep efforts will keep ya busy for a little while......and, as always, happy to take requests and even happier to take guest contributions......see what you can put together (can't be worse than MY posts!) and it may be your ticket to internet fame!
OVERLOOK THE ALL (EP)-01 Overlook the All/02 Life Lies Low/03 Hands of Dust/04 The Wizard
SLOW, BUT NOT DEAD-01 Far Away From Sunrise/02 Sysyphus' Downhill Ride/03 That's
Why/08 Soil/09 The Very Same/10 0050/11 Ornaments of Heaven/12 Inside Garden/13 I Sleep
SUN FACED APOSTLES-01 On Pain of Birth/02 Sun Faced Apostles/03 Labyrinths/04 Ship of Stake/05 Time of the Goblins/06 The River/07 From the Bottom of These Days/08 Mother Sand & Father Stone
....AND HELL FOLLOWED WITH HIM-01 Buried 1000 Times/02 Nails For Crucifixion/03 Crusade/04 November/05 Unchanged/06 Cain/07 Signs/08 Stabat Mater
WHEN MOUNTAINS ROAR-01 Hungry Spirits/02 Recieve the Pain/03 Into the Light/04 Raven Avenue/05 Hell Sells/06 Bitter Smile/07 Trapped In Sorrow/08 Army of the Dead

Please, no matter what else, ROCK THE FUCK ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!