Reviewed by Greg Sammons

The band, made up of three ex-Terminal lads and a former Between The Buried And Me guitarist, have a lot to thank their relatively unknown vocalist and lyricist for. Micah Kinard had, unlike the rest of the band, almost no musical background before joining Oh, Sleeper but has turned into quite the poet - and he's got pretty mean vocal chords to boot. 'When I Am God' refers to how we can tear the Church apart by putting ourselves as the most important thing and not letting God be God. This theme is unpicked on the lead single "Vices Like Vipers". Other themes include humility and wanting to put our trust in him but being scared of where it might take us. It's a fairly diverse release, broadly coming from the metalcore base, seeing them venture into Mewithoutyou territory in "Building The Nations" and the noisecore fold on various tracks - maybe paying homage to tourmates Norma Jean. You'd imagine that on album number two Oh, Sleeper have found a more consistent sound. This, their debut full length release, builds on their earlier EP by including all of its tracks and then working around them with a newer bunch. Considering how saturated the market they're entering is it's all the more surprising that there's plenty to get excited about with these guys.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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