This Place Become Your Tomb it is the auditory representation of that unknown immensity, where the human mind can hardly continue, which is expertly presented to us by two artists who have made their strong point of the mystery, so much so that they wear masks and simply name themselves as Vessel 1 e Vessel 2. As soon as listening begins, we find ourselves catapulted into a claustrophobic atmosphere, worthy of the deepest oceans, from which the wonderful and enigmatic cover of the disc takes its cue: our descent can therefore begin.
“Atlantic” opens with a piano suite which, accompanied by the melodious voice of Vessel 1, embraces us like the song of a mermaid to drag us to the bottom, where with every breath we try to inhale, the pressing and increasingly powerful instrumentation grips us taking away every chance of escape. “Hypnosis”It is pure power, a concentrate of tight rhythms, atmospheres that take away the breath and the usual voice that leads us through the unknown: at times the track presents progressive and djent contaminations that make it one of the most successful of the entire work; as the title says, sensory hypnosis that drags the listener even deeper, where he is forced to deal with his feelings.
Although maintaining an always marked alternative metal vein, “Mine” it slips towards something more introspective, with sounds that are at first sparkling and stimulating, the image of an inner reflection that pervades us during this infinite apnea. Surrounded by an infinite sense of bewilderment, we come across the fourth track, “Like That”, which like the previous one loads the environment with new, random sounds: huge, threatening figures, inhabitants of abysses that we do not know are revealed around us.
In this unbridled struggle, our mind draws relief with “The Love You Want”, first real breath of oxygen after the previous storm: each note brings the listener’s mind back to peaceful islands, rich in colors, nature and perfumes. Exhausted, we abandon ourselves to this embrace, pervaded by a warmth that had been missing for too long, until we heard a request in the distance, an echo as sweet as it is bitter. “Fall For Me”represents the shortest but at the same time most intense song of the entire album, managing in his 2:26 to make people understand how multiple musical currents can merge giving life to a small masterpiece: immersing himself in listening we feel small in front of the immensity of nature and creation, as if the latter were asking us to fall for her, to stop causing so much damage.
But readers, we are faced with a metal album, not a conference on environmental rights, and Sleep Token know very well how to get us back on the right tracks: “Alkaline” takes up the old sounds, decisive and convincing, powerful and direct, like a blow lashed by a white whale in the middle of the ocean. Only result, go back to the bottom. By experiencing that feeling of claustrophobia again, we are looking for something that can send the mind elsewhere, and here “Distraction” it happens to bean: the voice of Vessel 1 is again like a caress on our skin, light and thin, accompanied by synthesizer effects that relax every fiber and cell of our exhausted, withered body. The fall towards the immensity of the ocean finally appears to us to be a friend, we are no longer afraid of that darkness that until recently terrified us: with “Descending”We totally abandon ourselves to the certainty that we will never return to the surface again, nothing can save us from our destiny.
Having reached the last three tracks of this splendid work, we can’t wait to find out how this emotional dive that the Sleep Token have given us will end: “Telomeras”,”High Water”And the final”Missing Limbs”are the summary of an extraordinary intertwining that the band has managed to compose with an elegance that is rarely found today.
ROKKERSPRESS 