Source: Album artwork
Every now and then, a metal band will come along that manage to capture the hearts and minds of the British public at exactly the right time. It hasn’t been an easy road for While She Sleeps, but it seems like they are finally at the stage where that accolade is due to them. From singer Laurence Taylor‘s vocal problems, to them getting so fed up with record labels that they decided to venture out alone, While She Sleeps have somehow managed to make the best of every shit situation that has been flung their way and still managed to find the time to put some damn hard work into this album and into touring pretty much the entire world.
Which brings us to You Are We. Only their third full-length album, but still one that has had them in pretty much every music magazine you can imagine, plus numerous plays and slots all over the radio, including Radio 1. It’s a very different record to Brainwashed – Sleeps’ once-signature sound in punky, riff-tastic metalcore is visited very sparsely on this album, with the boys instead deciding to trade in massive choruses, sing-a-longs and clean vocal hooks fit for daytime radio. Whether it’s Loz’s vocal problems that meant his screaming has had to be cut down, or a stylistic change that the band wanted anyway, there’s a whole lot more of guitarist/co-vocalist Mat Welsh on You Are We than any other Sleeps’ recording to date.
The difference between this and This Is The Six is almost as stark as the difference between the first and the last Alexisonfire records. There’s certainly a lot that People On The Internet aren’t going to like, but those bits (e.g. the start of ‘Hurricane‘) are sprinkled around some really great riffs, and it wouldn’t be a While She Sleeps record if there wasn’t some outstanding guitar work from Sean Long. Where on Brainwashed there was 20 brilliant riffs a minute, there are far fewer on You Are We. The trade-off for this though is that the songs feel far more accessible to people who “don’t like all that screaming” whilst still being absolutely a metal record.
Not all of You Are We is cast-iron perfect music – occasionally the more quiet, singy sections fall into the “this is getting a bit boring now” territory. But all hats must go off to While She Sleeps. They have managed to make a record that is entirely deserving of the attention it is getting, whilst still being a metal band and growing and evolving their sound, doing it entirely off their own backs with money that The People have given them because they believe in them.
Your faith has been rewarded, people. While She Sleeps are here to stay.
