Sleeping Giant – Sons Of Thunder
Facedown Records

Rating:  

A band sets a standard for themselves with their first album, there are no real expectations from them. Typically a bands sophomore album is a “make it” or “break it” situation, especially if the band had a great first album.

This is the situation that Sleeping Giant finds themselves in with their latest album, “Sons of Thunder”. In 2007 Sleeping Giant set the bar very high with “Dread Champions of the last days”, combinding hardcore, metal, emelents of grind and christian gospel into a great collection of songs. As a result “Sons of Thunder” is a highly anticipated release.

Sleeping Giant doesn’t try to vail the fact that they are Christians, it’s very clear in the lyrics of Thom Green. From the first 30 seconds of this album I knew I was in for a wild ride. Track 1, “Gang Signs” starts off strong both musically and vocally with the proclamation “I will bleed for the one who gave everything for me”, accompanied with a heavy set of guitar riffs. The intensity and passion that starts the album off carries through the rest of the song and flows over into the other songs.

The second song is called “No One Leaves This Room Sick”. It’s an interesting name for a brutal song. Kids might not leave the room sick, but I can see people getting moshed into pieces when Sleeping Giant plays this song live. Possibly the heaviest song that Sleeping Giant has in their catalog.

The stand out song of the album is the third song, the ablums title track “Sons of Thunder”. The song starts slow and has a very dark, somber, serious tone. The music paints a picture of helplessness and dispair. It’s almost depressing. The darkness of the song off sets the clean gang vocals of “Overcome this world with love”. The clean vocals cut through this track like a ray of light. Simply put Sons of Thunder is a hardcore song that is heavy with emotion and passion, not with over the top break downs and inverted cords. It’s easiely one of the most interesting / passionate hardcore songs that I’ve ever heard. It’s clear why this song is the title track of the album.

Bruce, the singer of 100 Demons, contributes vocals to the shortest song on the album, track 4, “Descending into Hell”. No suprises here, this is classic Sleeping Giant, heavy music with a good groove to it, growling vocals, a big break down, a sing along and a lot of fun thrown in. It’s easy to picture this song as a potential crowd favorite.

Track 5, “The Streets Don’t Lie”, has a very personal feeling to it, similar to the song “Dynasty” on the bands last album. The sincerity and feeling of singer Thom Green can’t be denied in this song. This song is a good showcase of the heart and pasion behind the songs on this album. This song also features some of the best heavy parts on the album. I can see kids tearing each other apart at a live show, and clawing for the mic for the sing alongs. Great stuff.

Track 6, “The army of the Chosen one” features Ryan Clark, singer of Demon Hunter, assisting vocally. It’s a dark song with an almost black metal feel to it. It’s not my favorite track but its still fun.

I didn’t know what to think of track 7 when I first heard it. The first almost 2 minutes of this 7 minute song are very subdued, gental and feature clean vocals chanting “I’ve seen, I am” over and over. Once the song kicks in it very mid tempo, and features clean vocals over thoms grawling vocals. This may sound off puting at first, but like the song Sons of Thunder, Sleeping Giant makes it work well. The song finishes off reminding me of Thrice. For me this song was the sleepier track on the album. I wasn’t to into it at first, but it stuck in my head and it really grew on me.

Track 8, “Confession”, pulls no punches. By far the heaviest song on the album. No clean vocals or tricks here, just straight forward brutallity. Classic.

It shouldn’t be a suprise that the last track, “He Will Reign”, is a straight up worship song. No core or metal here, just pure passion. Clocking in at 8 minutes, the first half features just a piano and calm singing. The second half features what sounds like a chior, with drums and guitars that remind me of Jimmy Eat World. You might think it sounds weird but it’s a fitting way to cap off this album. Most albums have no closure and leave you hanging longing for more. This song is large filling and delivers a very suiting end to the album.

Overall I feel that this is a much more mature album then the first Sleeping Giant album. If you are just into sIq br00tal mosh parts then you might be let down, but if you are into music that is a vehicle of emotion and energy then you need to pick up Sons Of Thunder.

This is a Christian band with a Christian message but I feel that the music and the talent behind this album is enough to impress you no matter what you spiritual stance is.