The fact that I could not get the CD sent to play on my PC was a sign. This meant that I had to stick it in my CD player – you know like we used to in the old days – before it was all about squashing and compressing and sticking on phones. I bet most of you still use your CD’s responsibly, it’s just me being a thug.

Well, with the increased volume caused by proper digital sound I was struck immediately by the madness erupting from my speakers.

The Slumbering is a two person project with Clint Listing providing all the music – guitars, vocals, synths, effects and percussion and Stijn Van Cauter the graphics and artwork.

This album is only $2 for a digital copy on bandcamp so if you like the idea of harsh noise, 90’s Doom and Death Metal with some Avant-Garde electronics (as the blurb states) then don’t read on just go and make up your own mind.

The Slumbering have another album out in June of this year with this slab of self-proclaimed “Astral Doom Noise” first having been released in February of last year.

There are 7 tracks on offer here for your uneasy listening.

“Daddy Doesn’t Love You Right” is as unsettling as the title suggests. A barrage of fluttering harsh noise baffled to make it bearable.  It comes across like a lo –fi, more absurd Aphex Twin – there are Come to Daddy vibes here – I wonder if that explains the title. The vocals are back masked and distorted whispers and there are metallic chimes throughout that sound like pipes dropping in an abandoned dockyard or some seriously fucked up church bells.

Track 2 is entitled III – I see what you did there. It sounds like a voicemail from the depths of hell. It’s like the final third of Event Horizon. It is highly effective but I cannot think of another occasion when I am going to listen to this again. Imagine adding it to a shuffled playlist and this comes on whilst you are driving or snoozing on a bus. Fuuuuuuuuuck!

I hope for something less disturbing on a Journey to the Cyclops Cantina.  This is another spooky spacey affair but doesn’t really go anywhere. I am waiting here for the aforementioned Doom and Death metal vibes mentioned by the PR company.

Suffocation March Phase 1 opens like a 50’s sci fi movie on a film reel where the tape is overheating. I can almost smell the smoke and see the scorch marks on the screen. Pitch shifted synths and ominous electronic drums are pounced on my phasers and harsh John Carpenter chords. It’s OK but ages quick. There are bits that remind me of Assault on Precinct 13 but I am more bored than un nerved unlike my reaction to that particular score.

I skip onto You Can’t Make It Better and hope that Mister Listing can. This track is another wave of pulsating noise much like the opener. It would make a great intro but just leaves me longing for a big bass drop summink nice and wubby.

Winter of Suffering seems to hold the opening note of Killing Jokes 80’s for a while before moving into a sci fi score for the bit of a terminator movie where the audience is shown a flashforward to the time of the machines and John Connors battle in the resistance. It’s dark and lo-fi and a bit dreary which pretty much sums up the whole album for me. I am searching like a kid in a cereal box for the aforementioned 90’s Doom and Death Metal traits. I think someone has taken those toys out long before this hit my table.

Conflict from the 6th Dimension rounds things off and I have hit my limit with this. Lovers of artsy noise projects may dig what is being served up here.  I am left feeling as cold and devoid of hope as the vibe that the Slumbering are going for. But not in a good way.

(3/10 Matt Mason)

https://www.facebook.com/TheSlumbering

https://theslumbering.bandcamp.com/album/looking-for-sorrow-within-ones-fear

https://www.aestheticdeath.com/releases.php?mode=singleitem&albumid=5348