Sleep Year - In The Midst Of Death, We Are In Life
In The Midst Of Death, We Are In Life a concept album telling the story of two lovers trying to survive during a zombie apocalypse. eventually one gets bitten causing everything to go downhill. Thankfully, the album is nowhere near as cringey as its description, rather a triumphant step-up from their debut.
While there’s no stand out song, the album flows quite gorgeously, and explores a wide variety of emotions. The Beginning of the End of the World is ambitious in scope and length, starting the album off rather theatrically. The brass instruments are a neat addition, and sound like a more adventurous Wagon Lord in retrospect. The same could be said for How To Survive the Apocalypse and By My Side, the latter a remarkable placid piece that stands head and shoulders above the remaining tracklist. Lastly, the vocals may be inconsistent, but the stylistic change up on The Sickness Unto Death is noteworthy. Sadly, the poor vocal performances mar otherwise stylistically impressive tracks, such as Ghost Town Postcard (Wish You Were Here). Among the remaining weaker tracks are those that only seem present to push the narrative, such as Flee! Run For Your Lives! and CarriOn. To its benefit, these songs at least steer away from traditional songwriting conventions, even for brief moments.
As mentioned before, the album’s main flaw can be attributed to the vocals. The vocalist sounds far too like Car Seat Headrest, and thus lacks personality. The songwriting is far more playful and memorable than the formerly mentioned artist, though; a shame that creativity is limited to the instrumentation. Secondly, like most aspiring indie rock albums in the scene, its lacklustre production (or lack of) is quite unfortunate, though it grows on you.
Above Average
Listen to it here:
https://sleepyearmusic.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-midst-of-death-we-are-in-life