Apparitions

Kiss Me Sleeping

Written by: PP on 12/05/2013 19:26:02

Wow - where did this one come from? "Kiss Me Sleeping" is a monumental debut album, featuring some of the best and most refreshing post-hardcore you'll come to hear in 2013. While it has its Rise Records-esque moments in the form of generic breakdowns on a few occasions, these have mostly been ironed out for a far more dynamically flowing and well-structured sound, that recalls everyone from Pierce The Veil and A Skylit Drive to In Fear And Faith and Sleeping With Sirens.

Embedded within their post-hardcore formula are subtle electronics, where you can hear that parts of their soundscape have been manipulated, but unlike fashioncore bands (Asking Alexandria, Attack Attack! etc), here it's for the better as it gives their expression a sparkling feel. This is the perfect platform for vocalist Alex Lee to launch his epic, soaring clean vocals that are from the Anthony Green school of thought. Except where most people merely sound as cheap carbon copies of Green, Lee has his own passionate style of delivery that converts ordinary passages into passionate ones, and underlines the catchiest choruses with a bang. At the same time, the backing screams provide a nice dynamic contrast to his grandiose performance, and the instrumentals vary between technically proficient scales and high-end riffs to more standard heavy chugging where necessary. In other words, breakdowns exist, but these are a natural part of the sound instead of the cut-and-paste vibe many bands emit.

When you get to track 5, "Like In The Movies", what follows is a trio of songs that recall "Translating The Name" era Saosin so closely that I'm beginning to think this is the album Saosin should've released after that seminal EP. "Modern Whorefare" and "No Sweet Home" join the aforementioned track in absolutely fantastic post-hardcore with a flair for dramatic soundscapes without sounding overtly theatrical, but more importantly, they are ridiculously catchy. And despite their super-emo thematics, Lee's lyrics display a formidable amount of depth that makes his performance almost exactly on par with Anthony Green's brilliance on "Translating The Name". That's not an ordinary feat, folks.

In short, "Kiss Me Sleeping" is probably going to end up in the top three post-hardcore records this year, with a real shot of claiming the crown as the best album in the genre this year. It's certainly the best post-hardcore album since Memphis May Fire's The Challenger" from last year.

Download: Like In The Movies, No Sweet Home, Modern Whorefare, Mascara Queen
For the fans of: early Saosin, In Fear And Faith, A Skylit Drive, Pierce The Veil, Sleeping With Sirens
Listen: Facebook

Release date 09.04.2013
Indianola Records

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