Palm Reader – Sleepless
Release Date: 27th November 2020
Label: Church Road Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Hardcore.
FFO: The Dillinger Escape Plan, Employed To Serve, The Chariot, Conjurer.
Review By: Ryan Shearer
I fear I have made a terrible mistake. Palm Reader is one of those bands I’ve been sleeping on, and for those who don’t spend much time reading comments on the internet by American youth, sleeping on something means “fail to notice the excellence of someone or something.” I’ve seen Nottingham’s newest up-and-comers Palm Reader littered around social media for a while, but never took the time to explore them. Their sound before Sleepless was much more hardcore, mathcore-influenced but they have slowly been evolving into something different; something which has fully formed in their latest release.
The opener Hold/Release is driven by technical drum patterns, swelling into a beautiful and haunting chorus. The guitars hold back until later in the album to really slap you in the nuts, but Hold/Release is exactly that. You can feel the band holding the line before releasing it all between verse and choruse, before going batshit for a heavy breakdown and super interesting bridge.
Stay Down takes it to the next level, with interesting and unexpected melodic and rhythmic switches constantly keeping you guessing at where it’s going next. It expertly navigates the difficult line of being complex with an understandable accessibility. Beautiful lead melodies undercut ferocious vocals as the song closes on a ball-crushing breakdown.
The first couple of tracks are a good introduction to the general sound of the album, but that isn’t to say you’ve heard everything. There is a level of energy brewing that never quite erupts until the last 20 seconds or so of Ending Cycle, but when it does it feels damn satisfying. The track has a brooding but playful feel, reminding me of Black Bubblegum by The Dillinger Escape Plan without the overt weirdness. Willow, their lead single from the album, is a moody and tense track summarising the proficiency of the band with a more mainstream appeal clearly on display.
The bass tones are fucking enormous on this album. The A Bird and its Feathers’ bass alone is heavy enough to make you feel like a sumo wrestler is taking a nap, and you’re the bed. Islay is a palette-cleanser that feels as much like an ambient soundscape as it does a Red Dead Redemption 2 loading screen track, with a barrel-load of delay and western sounding melodies. All of the instrumentation is polished and has moments to shine, but the low end is absolutely killer.
Sleepless likes to lead you along blindfolded; you have no idea where you’re being taken in the next section, and you’ll likely be taken aback a few times at how subtly they move between completely different sounding parts without ever sounding jarring. Islay into False Thirst feels like a mid-album reboot, with the latter driving a lo-fi, electronic sound as the core. Brink and A Love that Tethers feel comparatively less dark than the first half of the album, with the ending tracks having great soaring melodies and crushing guitars. Both Ends Of The Rope is a great choice for an album closer, with a more reserved, less aggressive intro building and building the atmosphere, before crashing with a thunderous finale brimming with energy.
The album as a whole feels like a grown up Palm Reader. There has been a shift; a new darker, larger and more meaningful creature has been born through Sleepless that you can feel in the production, the compositional choices and the vibes the album generates. It experiments, it plays around and it doesn’t give a shit if it doesn’t fit neatly into a box. I’ve had these tracks swirling around my head as I’m trying to sleep. I guess that’s why they named the album what they did…
You can hear the obvious influences such as The Dillinger Escape Plan, in the approach towards structure and especially harsh vocals sounding almost identical to the brutal powerhouse that is Greg Puciato (I’ve mentioned him in 3 reviews already, you’d think I was obsessed…). In the same vein, TDEP’s album Ire Works which Sleepless reminds me of in areas, was controversial in that it was a sharp turn from their pre-established path. Sleepless might not go down particularly well with mathcore purists who have followed Palm Reader throughout their blossoming career, but change is better than predictability. It’s an incredibly enjoyable album absolutely jam-packed with style, finesse and emotion, and if you have been sleeping on Palm Reader, do yourself a favour and give Sleepless a spin.
(4.5 / 5)
