THE SLEEP PRODUCES MONSTERS

Oberon have released The Sleep Produces Monsters which is a short 24 minute slice of metal meets Stoner Rock with slabs of keyboards thrown in. There are 6 instrumental tracks that incorporate a conceptual theme of dealing with insanity.

Oberon are Yuri Crescenzio on guitars, Giacomo Zanardo on bass and guest artists Gilberto Ongaro on keys, with Alberto Barretta on drums.

It opens blazing with Time to Sleep 1, a massive distortion sound on guitar is augmented with a grinding organ. It has a Stoner feel and sounds very raw, but the riffs are awesome.

Nightmares with Open Eyes has another killer riff and the raw energy is astonishing in places.

Visions has a quieter atmosphere with finger picking intro and then gets faster with a dirty distorted guitar, and then the glory of a Hammond organ sound crushes in lending an explicitly 70s vibe.

Obsession has a chaotic quirky rhythmic guitar and more frenetic percussion. The bass lines are frantic and sporadic and this goes down as my favourite track on the album.

Strange Shadows has a dark Sabbath like riff and some fast and furious drums. At this point though I was longing for some vocals as it was getting repetitive.

Time to Sleep 2 closes the album with more Sabbath metal and chaotic drums. I love the time sig changes on this and the Doomy sound generated. The bass runs are cool and the chord structure grabs me. Again some vocals would have really added to the sound but that is perhaps to come later depending on the direction of the band.

Overall this is a solid release from Oberon and it is the absence of vocals that are a crucial missing element as the riffs chug away and it feels as though it needs that something extra. Having said that I would hate a screamo voice to be used, rather a clean vocal like Ozzy would be perfect. It sounds like a band in progress and it certainly shows great promise. The album is online and on YouTube so check it out now.