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Released on October 31, 2014 via Prophecy Productions
Sleeping Pulse is a collaboration between Antimatter’s Mick Moss and Luís Fazendeiro of Painted Black. Luís Fazendeiro handles the song writing while Mick Moss focusses solely on the vocal lines and lyrics.
Fans of Mick Moss will know exactly what to expect of him; a desolate baritone, eking out every ounce of emotion from his dark, mournful lyrics. The surprise is the superb guitar work of Luís Fazendeiro, of the less well known Portuguese doom metal band Painted Black. Fazendeiro creates lush textural passages with layers of chiming, clean guitars contrasted by doomy, distortion drenched sections, melodically supported by a singing lead guitar sound. All of this perfectly complements Moss’s bleak lyrical content and distinctive voice; it really is a match made in heaven, if that’s fair to say of a band so unrepentantly dark and melancholic.
Fazendeiro combines a wide range of musical ideas in his compositions, from the balladic piano led intro in ‘The Blind Lead the Blind’, to the driving tribal rhythms at the end of ‘Painted Rust’, to the delicate strings on ‘Backfire’. However, Fazendeiro is able to combine all of these elements without ever losing sight of his artistic vision, which is expertly interpreted by Mick Moss. Moss’ lyrics examine the theme of sociopathic manipulation and betrayal, allowing him to explore the darkness and violence of the human condition. The rawness of Moss’ voice provides an excellent counterpoint to the pristine clarity of the music, giving the compositions a vital fragility, which really shines through in the heavier climaxes.
The real strength of both Moss and Fazendeiro is their ability to weave an atmosphere. Under The Same Sky conjures a dense, claustrophobic atmosphere, full of seething menace and melancholy beauty. The album is laced with moments of simmering aggression, and Fazendeiro occasionally lets loose with some cathartic, heavy climaxes, most notably on the outros to ‘Gagging Order’ and ‘Backfire’ and the main riff of ‘Noose’. The album is at times funerial, sometimes sombre, and other times aggressive, but it is always dark and relentlessly engaging.
On an album full of stand out moments, it is hard to pick out the strongest tracks. However, for me, the tracks, ‘War’, ‘Noose’, and ‘Painted Rust’ represent the best of what Sleeping Pulse has to offer. It is on ‘War’ that Mick Moss delivers his strongest vocal performance, his voice plumbing the emotional depths of the album’s lyrical theme, before rising to a plaintive, heart-rending climax. The ethereal ‘Painted Rust’ combines a simple synthetic drum beat with a gorgeous, reverb soaked guitar melody, representing one of the more tranquil moments on the album. The driving, tribal rhythm at the end of the song really amps up the tension as it leads into the the hard-hitting, riff driven ‘Noose’. This song, perfectly placed at track number eight on the album, provides a channel for all of the latent aggression present on the album to be let loose. A moment of catharsis on a resolutely melancholy album.
Any album featuring Mick Moss is always worth a look, but the contribution of Luís Fazendeiro should not be understated in this masterclass in dark, atmospheric rock. Under The Same Sky is never going to be a piece of music that fits any occasion, but when you’re in a certain mood, there really is nothing better.
