THE SLEEP PRODUCES MONSTERS

The band's second album showed quite a shift, with Yuri Crescenzio now just providing electric guitars and Giacomo Zanardo joining on bass while drummer Alberto Baretta was now a guest, as was Gilberto Ongaro (organ, synth and electric piano). With Yuri now only having to think about electric guitar, and having a proper keyboard player to bounce ideas with, the music has definitely taken a dramatic change for the better. Without the distractions of acoustic guitars or the needs of a female singer this has been distilled into stoner rock with some nice psychedelic keyboard overlays. There is a very clean sound with all instruments nicely defined, with plenty of space so it does not come at the listener like a wall of mud and the production is a so much better than on the debut with Baretta now being much more to the fore.

The music itself can be somewhat repetitive, and while I understand not using a singer, this is music which will feel much better when it is played live than being listened to at home. I imagine they have quite raucous crowds and that these songs also get extended and drawn out when being played in that environment. This is a significant change from the debut in all areas and given it has now been five years since this was released one wonders what they are going to come up with next. Fans of stoner instrumentals should definitely give this a chance.