Sleeping Gods - New Sensation (2000)

While it's not as annoying as the two covers before it, the Germans of Sleeping Gods still did not seem to realize the importance of aesthetics that would help them scale the ladder of doom. What do these old timey fellers have to do with the sound of your music? Were you just desperate for something? Why the third bland logo and title type in the span of three albums? There is really not much to go on if you're browsing through the metal albums at your local record shop, looking for something with a spot of crushing heaviness to it, unless of course you had already read about the band or heard the prior albums, in which case you still might find this unappealing do to the lackluster choice.

Unfortunately, I cannot report that the music of New Sensation is in any way an improvement over the sophomore album. It's composed at about the same level, accessible but heavy doom accessed through very simple riffs that are rarely catchy on their own, slathered in mostly forgettable lead guitars and gruff, growling vocals. This is also the album where they went the most Goth with tunes like "Together As One", but they're even more awkward than their goofy peers Atrocity who also walked that road, and unlike Pyogenesis, who remained catchy even in their pop phase (though many original fans hated it), they don't exhibit strong songwriting that would be required to bridge the gap. It's not terrible, but the clean vocals feel second rate and like their last few albums, they can't pen a chorus good enough to justify what builds up to it.

Production is fine, with a nice punch to the drums, thick as syrup guitars that convey both the heaviness of the chugging and chord patterns, plus the slight sense for melody they throw down, but the tunes are just too mediocre to care, and its by no means an improvement over Regenerated. In fact, this album is hardly any better than Above and Beyond, and thus it's no surprise why they'd fold soon after. They just never quite lived up to any of the glimpses of potential they showed, and were beaten to the punch by other, more beloved bands.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

Sleeping Gods - Regenerated (1997)

Regenerated might not look like much, in fact Sleeping Gods has never had a decent album cover whatsoever, but if you want to know how much better this album is than their debut, well...it features a didgeridoo on TWO tracks. I don't know WHY it features such an instrument, or how it thematically connects with the trudging doom of this German obscurity, but it's a fun intro to what is a slightly heavier, meatier, and superior album. This is still your guardian variety chugging, with a little whiff of the Gothic style that took over countrymen Pyogenesis for a spell, but it sounds more crushing and mournful, and overall just more professional and passionate. Gazing upon it, though, you can see why approximately 99.9% of the people in the record shops skipped on past it, the other .1% being the band members' moms and grandparents.

They bring back the female vocalist who was on the debut Above and Beyond, but she has some mixed results here, sounding a little silly with her frilly timbre in "Dead Calls", but effective on "The Wingless". The real star here is the production, which is huge when they are busted out the somber, understated melodies in amidst the dense chords. The drums sound a lot better, as do the main vocals as they get gruffer. I would often hear or see comparisons from this band to Sweden's Lake of Tears, who put out one of my favorite doom records in A Crimson Cosmos this same year, but I admit that I don't really hear much in common other than the superficial details of the gruff vocal, slow churning doom guitars, maybe the production. Sadly this one is just nowhere near as addictive as that, and it sticks quite close to the same style on all the songs, where that one had a couple folksy or old rock & roll experiments.

I definitely hear the potential here where I didn't before, and if you were into a lot of their countrymen like Pyogenesis or End of Green, this is where you might want to pick up their trail, because it removes any need for the debut's existence. The riffs do need to be a lot catchier, and lead to more payoff than just the mix of Gothic whispers and operatic guest vocals, but clearly more effort was put into this in both the studio aspects and the compositions, and while I won't say it's necessarily 'good', it's taking Sleeping Gods in a positive direction...or will it?

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

Sleeping Gods - Above and Beyond (1995)

I can't remember what classic album cover this one reminds me of, it's obviously a tribute or parody of some sort and entirely too goofy to adorn a doom metal album, which is more or less what the Sleeping Gods debut represents. Above and Beyond is an introduction to another long lost of the German Goth metal bands that probably had a little more fuel in their tanks than we would give them credit for, released independently at first and enough to get them signed over to the local AFM label which most of you will probably recognize more for its heavy/power metal, but has always been willing to show some support in other niches if they hear some potential...which the Sleeping Gods do possess.

Even here, on this cruder, early material, they've got a sense for using sad melodies amidst the heavier drudge of chords, gruff guttural vocals, and a decent production for such a lower budget release. The obvious comparison is Pyogenesis, and if you told me that this was an unreleased Pyogenesis album I wouldn't blink for a second of disbelief. The songs aren't quite so sticky and heart-warming as Sweet X-Rated Nothings, but just the guitar tone and vocal are enough to feel like they are nearly a doppelganger. The songs are simpler, rocking but not without a little mood and depth do the darker disposition of those vocals, but they often fail to escalate into some truly worthy chorus. I also felt like a few of the drums were weak, and the guitar tone on the little leads is just too thin and wimpy to really deserve its place above the fatter rhythm tracks.

They're not above a few risks like the female operatic guest vocal in "Blood is Thicker Than Water", which instantly elevates that track to another level of interest, although otherwise it sounds like an outtake from Sweet X-Rated Nothings. The dreary ballad "Viviane's Lamentation" brings those vocals back, and once again that automatically makes it stand out because of the contrast between her high pitch and the moody low-end, but they bungle that up with some boring clean male vocals and it does end up a little amateurish. At any rate, while far from terrible, this is the weakest of the Sleeping Gods' three albums, enough for a curiosity when you're deep diving through this scene, but not an enduring work by any means.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]