My first exposure to Wintersleep was with their very well done, hook heavy 2007 album Welcome To The Night Sky. They had a smart, focused yet hook-laden batch of songs on that record that were very catchy and really grew on me quickly. They pretty much flew under the radar with that release and now fast forward 3 years later and they are dropping this new one New Inheritors on us. While their strong song writing still shines through in this album, it is a much darker affair and doesn’t have quite as many moments that pop as its predecessor. They have gone for a more hard rock, dark riff sound on this album and while it produces some really interesting and great songs (“Encyclopedia” jumps to mind), in the end it is just a very solidly album that doesn’t break any new ground or wow you, but still has solidly put together songs that chug along and have some great hooks.
Whereas I remember the prior album having more kind of pop-laden hooks with more of an 80s influence, this album seems to have more of a darker riff, 70s influence to it. In some ways this gives the band a fuller, deeper and more mature sound, but it didn’t prove entirely as interesting to me as before. I really like some of the hooks and riffs they have worked into the songs here, and some of them are really excellent, unmistakeably darker and more rhythmic but that can also be more powerful as well. “Experience The Jewel” has a great, lumbering feeling to it, and as I said above I love the depraved riff running throughout “Encyclopedia”. “New Inheritors” is a great center piece of the album with some great hooks and a lighter feel, yet there is still that dark undertone that runs throughout the album, and it continues on “Black Camera”, with its almost biker bar rock feel to it. “Echolocation” has a great dreamy quality to it, and “Mirror Matter” is an excellent song with a dark edge, but that great buzzed out feeling to it, it has a great hook.
There are really some songs I really heavily enjoy and they have a less pop-oriented, more mature sound on this record that I do kind of like. I think the record just doesn’t stick and hold with me as much as the previous one, but it is in the end really a very well done record with some very good songs. They won’t blow your mind probably as they have a pretty straight forward sound, but it is solidly done and you can’t really go wrong with the solid songs here.
Wintersleep – Encyclopedia – From New Inheritors (Amazon | iTunes)
Wintersleep – Mirror Matter – From New Inheritors (Amazon | iTunes)
