Albums of the Week: 01/03/19 (While She Sleeps, Pkew Pkew Pkew, Minors)

While She Sleeps – SO WHAT?

6.5/10

Best Tracks: THE GUILTY PARTY, HAUNT ME, ELEPHANT

FFO: Bring Me The Horizon, Bury Tomorrow, Stick To Your Guns

Over the course of their career, While She Sleeps have become quite possibly the best metalcore band in the UK. From their seminal 2012 LP This Is The Six, to 2015’s masterpiece Brainwashed, to their most recent offering, the massive You Are We, the Sleeps brothers have built a sound unique to them which has evolved across an enviable track record.

On SO WHAT?, the band don’t necessarily make a complete departure from their previous work, but definitely shift to a different sonic focus; primarily an increased concern with melody and genre exploration. There’s a clear influence from their Sheffield brethren Bring Me The Horizon, though not in a blatant way – the band have begun to augment their music with different genres, from skate-punk (on ANTI-SOCIAL) to modern pop (on INSPIRE). The three tracks smack-bang in the middle of the album are easily my favourites; circle-pit inducing THE GUILTY PARTY, into the best song on the whole thing, HAUNT ME, which features an unforgettable melodic through-line, and finally ELEPHANT, which at times goes as heavy as it’s namesake.

Unfortunately, at a lot of points on this record, Sleeps seem to be playing against their strengths. SO WHAT?, on the whole, lacks a lot of the bite and aggression which made their previous work so exciting, partly due to the surprisingly (and frankly disappointingly) infrequent appearance of Loz Taylor’s vocals. Loz has one of the most powerful and recognisable voices in heavy music today, so the fact that he’s used as much more of a secondary vocalist on this album is a shame, to say the least. However, it does mean that there are more complex and involved clean vocal lines (primarily down to a great performance from guitarist Mat Welsh), many of which are clearly fashioned to be sung along to. If we're talking guitars, on the other hand, Mat and fellow guitarist Sean Long are once again on top form, crafting riffs miles better than anyone else in their genre circle with apparent ease.

Despite the substitution of harsher vocals for hook-y cleans, though, the sheer simplicity of Sleeps' gang-vocal choruses of old - on songs like Four Walls and Seven Hills – make them much more instantaneous and effective. I’ve listened to SO WHAT? four or five times now and the only song which truly sticks with me is HAUNT ME. A lot of the lyrics are lacking, as well, with the opening track proclaiming “I’m not anti-social, I’m anti-bullshit” like a 43-year-old woman on Facebook after two glasses of wine. The political commentary is straightforward, and works pretty well at times, but on the whole cries out for more nuance.

I love While She Sleeps, and their incredible, self-made story is one I’ll follow to the end, but despite some big singles, this is their weakest release thus far. Though, to be fair, it’s still better than most could do, and I can feel it growing on me already.

Pkew Pkew Pkew – Optimal Lifestyles

8.5/10

Best Tracks: Point Break, The Polynesian, Adult Party, Thirsty and Humble

FFO: PUP, The Menzingers, Gnarwolves

I don’t know what they’re putting in the water in Ontario, Canada, but I’m gonna have to get myself some. From The Dirty Nil and PUP to Cancer Bats and Alexisonfire, everyone and their mum making great music at the moment seems to be from the same state, and Pkew Pkew Pkew are here to prove that point even further.

Optimal Lifestyles doesn’t pretend to be anything but a Class-A punk n’ roll rager, clocking in fifteen songs in 34 minutes, and by the first couple tracks you’ll know whether it’s for you or not. Each track is an adrenaline shot of punchy drums, power chords, and PUP-esque guitar leads. The vocals are passionate, and full of turns of phrase on which you can almost hear the wry smile that accompanies them; from “I’m a rookie, I’m a fraud, but I’m free” on Point Break to the record’s shout-along crown jewel in the form of “Rich kids go fuck yourselves, if there’s some in the audience go somewhere else” on Adult Party.

Lyrically and thematically, the album has a lot in common with a band like The Menzingers; personal stories told with a nostalgic edge (best shown on the Springsteenian The Polynesian). In terms of the energy and attitude, though, there’s a lot more Jawbreaker here than Gaslight Anthem. It’s all the best bits of every type of punk rock shoved in a blender and given a good spin, which makes me grin like an idiot, but there are also brilliant moments of left-field influence. Point Break has an incredible sax solo halfway through which is pure, molten joy to listen to, and Everything’s The Same is a piano-driven, bittersweet mini-ballad  which can bring a tear to the eye in under a minute and a half.

Optimal Lifestyles is a beautiful ode to being young, struggling to get by, and trying to have a good time. With it, Pkew Pkew Pkew have given the PUP album coming out in April a run for it’s money ahead of time, and stolen my album of the week slot with ease.

Minors – Abject Bodies

7/10

Best Tracks: Consumed, Flesh Prison, Erode

FFO: Trap Them, Conjurer, Primitive Man

Want something hefty? Want to feel like you’re getting mugged at knifepoint by a tank? Yeah? Then Minors make music for you.

Blending brutal powerviolence with metallic hardcore and sludge metal, Abject Bodies consistently hits with all the force of a freight train. The songs are driven by an incredible drum performance which flits between manic, breakneck fills and rhythms and pounding, stoner-doom paced percussion. Pinning down a riff on this album in amongst the sea of feedback and huge, rumbling bass tone is difficult, but when one cuts through (like it does at start of Flesh Prison), it’s impossible to resist making a face like you’ve just smelled something foul. When Minors go full sludge on Abject Bodies (on a song such as Erode), the furious vocals come to centre-stage in an almost demonic manner, backed by slowly-lurching instrumentation that would make Primitive Man jealous.

This is another Holy Roar release, and another fantastic one. It’s nihilistic, bleak, and not fucking happy about it in the slightest. Minors, here, cement themselves as a force to be properly reckoned with in the world of heavy music.