Band : Another Kind Of Death

Album title : Sleepless Every Night

Label : Underhill

Distributor : Sonic Rendezvous

Release date : 21/11/2007

Release : CD

Being formed in the year 2000 made Another Kind Of Death one of the pioneers in the Spanish NoiseCore/ Mathcore scene of their home country. But even before that 3 of the band's members had already been active with Make My Day , which was an act in the style of Breach and Neurosis . Also being interested in bands the like of Converge , Poison The Well , and Morning Again , they formed a new band with a different drummer and singer. Taking their bandname from one of the first songs they made, their current singer joined during 2001, which is when they finally could get started seriously. Their 3-track 2002 demo Unfinished was picked "Demo Of The Month" in Terroriser magazine, which gave the band the kind of exposure it needed to end up playing in support of the likes of Mörser (Germany), Forstella Ford (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA), Submerge & Dead For A Minute (France), Uziel   (Poland), Moksha & Unsane Crisis (Spain) at several gigs and festivals ( Butchery At Christmas Time 2002 and Barroselas Metal Fest 2003 in Portugal, and Throne   Fest I in Spain).

Things were really looking up, and the band recorded their debut album No Signal during 2003. Then problems with the drummer almost cause the band to split up. But the band persevered, and eventually got their album released in early 2005 by Spanish label Conviction and Australian Doom/ Sludge imprint & distro Red Cobalt Industries . Although the drummer condition remains precarious (it took 'till somewhere in 2006 for the line-up to stabilize again), the band still goes out onto the stages, and again does some festivals ( Mordor HC Fest , where they play alongside Moho and Adrift to name but a few – you'll understand later why this fact is so important; Up Coming Fest , and Articolo 20 Fest , where they – and some others – were support to Monochrome and headliners Entombed ). The band then signed to Spanish label Underhill , whose first work was to put the band on the 4-way split-CD Waterloo (released in October '06) alongside Moksha , Moho , and Adrift (now you understand about that important little detail earlier on?).

The split really served as a teaser for the band's upcoming new full-length, which was originally planned to be out on the street in early 2007 (or at least éarlier in 2007). And with the addition of Adrift 's Jaime (joining singer Mario , guitarists Carlos & Victor , and bassist/ singer Ale ) on the drum stool, it looked like the line-up had finally stabiliseed. Eventually, both band and label settled for a September release date, but even that didn't work out, as first the recording studio's schedule was too busy, and then when the recordings were finished, Alan Douches couldn't quite immediately start working on the mastering...also due to a too busy schedule.

In spite of everything, we finally also got the album sent (and it's late review is only due to the fact that it only came to the office like a week or so ago), and I have to say...it's a crackin' good one! With its 10 songs the regrettably already stops after only 28 minutes of deliciously melodic and catchy Noisecore/ Mathcore, the band preferring to step away from their complex-for-complexity's-sake beginning days, and focussing rather on making solid and recognizable short-sharp-shocks! Alan Douches has done a wonderful job at the mastering console, bringing forth every note played on either guitars, bass, or drum, and every possible scream, clean vocal out in its purest and most recognizable form, without harming the overall aggression of the band's music. I don't know how things are for you, but I've always been somewhat attracted by the whole Noisecore and Mathcore scenes (as well as the more Grinding variants of Death and Black). Blame it on my early years as a music journalist, when we were often forced to listen to badly recorded rehearsal tapes in order to form an idea of some bands. It learned me to be able to discern an underlaying tonality in the most aggresive kinds of music possible. And when recordings/ masterings have such a high quality as in this case...! Make up your own judgement of the music by surfing to myspace.anotherkindofdeath, where you'll find mp3 files for this album's tracks "Golem" , "Long Distance Vision" , and "Alcohol & Glitter" (the latter in it's version from the Waterloo split though). Additionally, there's also the track "Ochid" off the band's first album. Of course, this set does not allow you to hear what the band sounds like when they play a little more sedate (like on the ingenious instrumental ...And I Chose You From Dead ), but it'll be anough to convince you that the comparisons to the likes of Pelican and Mastodon (as mentioned in the Spanish reviews which you'll find among the Myspace blogs) are no idle talk. Personally, I'd add both Converge , Botch , Will Haven , and even Neurosis to a certain extend...to that list! Ach, the delicious numbness one experiences after listening to such perfectly executed tunes!

In conclusion: here's what could be considered one of the leading Spanish bands in their genre, and it should therefore be no surprise to find me nominating Sleepless Every Night into that "Best Albums Of 2007"-list of mine! Thank God these guys hung on in the face of adversity (read also the interview in the aforementioned blogs). Going on the current line-up put up at the Myspace page, Jaime has meanwhile left and been exchanged for one Araña (let's hope this guy hangs on, eh?)!

98/100

Tony.