(Sleeps Brothers)
On their sixth album, the hardcore Sheffield quintet bring furious riffs, howling, swearing and … acoustic guitars?
Formed by school friends in former mining villages near Sheffield, While She Sleeps were briefly on a major label but have gone an independent route to build a passionate fanbase large enough for them to headline London’s 10,000 capacity Alexandra Palace. Meanwhile, over 17 years the quintet’s music has developed beyond metalcore to reflect wider influences from Radiohead to Kendrick Lamar.
This sixth album attempts the sort of genre-busting metamorphosis Linkin Park went for with A Thousand Suns. Riffola and guttural, screamed vocals still abound (singer Loz Taylor has had three throat operations). Where 2021’s Sleeps Society album featured guests from Enter Shikari, Biffy Clyro and Sum 41, here Malevolence’s Alex Taylor pops in for the brutally anthemic Down.
