deathsleep builds music out of musical contradictions, by juggling creative juxtaposition and forcing sonic opposites to attract. I mention this because such creativity is rare at the heavier end of the sonic spectrum, a place where less is rarely more, more is always more, where the norm is just to pile on layer after layer of sonic weight into an intense and intimidating juggernaut.
Take the opening salvo of Irish Goodbye, their latest four-track EP. As the name might suggest, “Lamentations” is a spiral of drifting guitars and hazy, beguiling voice-as-instrument vocals. This serves as an introduction, carrying over into “Don’t Go,” which then builds up tension through up subtle and seductive deliveries, anthemic hard rock, growling counter-vocals, incendiary guitars, and pounding beats. And rather than just applying ever-increasing metamorphic pressure, deathsleep is smart enough to know how to create impressive dynamics by cycling through various iterations of the music, ebbing and flowing, putting the foot on and off the creative pedal. Very clever indeed.
It is a song that shows the creativity and prowess of singer Gareth Lastinger. In most bands, the singer has mastered one, maybe two deliveries – sweet serenading, rock ‘n’ roll growl, balladic longing, punchy hard rock, pop warmth, anthem, ambient, neo-classical, metal mayhem, etc – here, Lastinger effortlessly wanders between them all.
“Diamond Eyes” again acts as a showcase for the broad scope of the band’s take on post-hardcore, and Lastinger follows the band’s switches from intricate guitar coils to tsunamic sound walls.
The EP is rounded off with “Moon Omens,” a track mixing groove and grandeur, ambience and anthemics which sees all players move freely between the two ends of their instruments’ sonic spectrums.
Irish Goodbye is proof that music can be big and clever, that music found in the heavier realms doesn’t have to be merely heavy, and that once you have mastered such understandings, you need a singer who can follow wherever the music goes. deathsleep has all that and more. Much more!
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