I've just realised that this is the first time that this has band has made it onto this list since their album in 2012 and I'm stunned. Each of their albums since then seem to have grown and grown on the last. This album is no different. Back on the list with their fourth album You Are We is While She Sleeps.
There is not one track on this album that I didn't like. I always feel like starting an album with your title track is a bold move because being the title track, you'd normally expect it to carry the most weight and so I'd be wary of it leaving the rest of the album in the dust. None of that here with WSS. Although "You Are We" is still one of my favourites on the album, it's joined by a fair few others. In fact to name a few - "Feel", "Wide Awake", "Silence Speaks (feat. Oli Sykes)", and "Hurricane" are my currently filling up the list.
This might just be their most versatile album yet - mixing in different sounds and influences, like the influence of prog rock on "Empire Of Silence" for example, or adding in a touch more melody on tracks where they might have shied away in the past. I feel like this record has really stretched their songwriting capabilities and as much as they've always been phenomenal at executing instrumentals (both live and on record), and curating the right tracks for an album; this record stuck with me more as a whole than Brainwashed did after This Is The Six. Brainwashed had some stellar shining moments on it but this album just shines all together. I think the fact that fans crowdfunded the album may have influence their process. It's clear that they have put a huge effort into not only giving fans what they want but also keeping the album meaningful to themselves.
While She Sleeps never seem to do anything half arsed and You Are We only made it more evident to me that these guys are underrated. They're getting a lot of recognition but not the amount that's due in my opinion. Consistently solid band and in a climate like today's where fear and uncertainty are on the rise, a record like this couldn't be more welcome.
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