From the first listen of Tales Between Reality And Madness, it quickly becomes clear that underground rockers Void Of Sleep are well on their way to becoming more of a regular name on the metal scene. Upon hearing their name, one’s mind would generally turn to stoner rock, but trust me, this Italian quartet has so much more to offer.
Opening track ‘Blood On My Hands’ kicks off the release with an offering of sludgy base tones, distorted guitar riffs and raspy vocals which will keep the doom fans happy. It is definitely the heaviest track on the album and contrasts nicely with the final track ‘Son’s Of Nothing’ where Burdo’s vocals are much cleaner. The album stomps along at a steady mid-pace and often features an unpredictable song structure which perhaps shouldn’t work, but really does. This is possibly most evident in ‘Wisdom Of Doom’, a track which will not go in the direction you expect, but I dare you to dislike it.
Build and release is used throughout the album as a whole, as would be expected from a sludge rock band, but it never becomes an overkill of crescendo for the effects sake. Perhaps the best thing about Void Of Sleep’s debut full length album is that every track seems to allow each instrument have a turn at leading the way through the music. Due to this it opens up the bands appeal to a much wider audience than your average sludge band.
Tales Between Reality and Madness will appeal to fans of bands such as Kyuss and Tool. They without a doubt lie in the rock genre, but offer enough of a heavy, sludge sound to keep even the purest of metal fans happy.
8/10
by Chantelle Marie