Oh Sleeper - Son of the Morning

Artist: Oh Sleeper
Album: Son of the Morning
Release Date: 8/25/09
Label: Solid State Records

I have always had a love/hate relationship with concept albums. Some are brilliantly done works of art, while others are long, drawn out, boring and over-indulgent pieces of work made perfectly for the dollar used album bin. Oh Sleeper's sophomore concept album, Son of the Morning, based on the battle between God and Satan, thankfully comes much closer to the former than the latter.

Son of the Morning begins perfectly with the title track, which is an explosive song with great vocals throughout. The clean vocals in the chorus, followed by repeating screams, add a strong sense of urgency to the song. "The New Breed," "Breathing Blood" and "Commissioned By Kings" all have very memorable gang chants within them. "World Without A Sun" and "The Fire Dawn," which is the only song without clean vocals, have very nice guitar playing throughout.

"In All Honesty" begins rather calmly with guest vocals by Cody Bonnette, formerly of one of my all-time favorite bands As Cities Burn, before ramping up the intensity. "Reveries of Flight" comes across as the softest song on the album. The extensive use of clean vocals provided by guitarist Shane Blay is definitely the highlight of both the song and the album. My favorite song is "A Banquet For Traitors." This song is brutally heavy and also has a nice tempo change briefly before the second verse. The closer, titled "The Finisher," is great musically, but in my opinion, suffers from a poor melody in the chorus.

Rating: 9/10 Though not as musically progressive as their debut When I Am God, Oh Sleeper's Son of The Morning is a step in the right direction. The overall songwriting has improved rather substantially, showing that this was quite a concept to put music to. Thankfully, Oh Sleeper have pulled it off. This is one of the best metalcore/post-hardcore albums from last year. Kudos to Oh Sleeper.

Reviewed by Matthew Alexander

Tracklisting:

1. Son of the Morning
2. The New Breed
3. In All Honesty
4. Breathing Blood
5. Reveries Of Flight
6. World Without A Sun
7. The Fire Dawn
8. A Banquet For Traitors
9. Commissioned By Kings
10. The Finisher

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