WHILE SHE SLEEPS Vinyl & CDs

Review: Sheffield metalcore giants While She Sleeps make their long awaited return on the follow up to 2021's Sleeps Society. Taking a more sprawling approach to composition this time around, and allowing outsider influences from the likes of Gorillaz, Aphex Twin and even Britpop to help steer their creative course, the resulting sixth full-length Self Hell, offers simultaneously the band's most aggressive, complex and frenetic work in over a decade, whilst tapping into newfound electronic soundscapes aided by the use of vintage synths such as the Korg MS-20 and Behringer TD-3. These warring textures provide a unique balance of post-metalcore serenity, with technical riffs weaving around lush hues of ambient, euphoric electronica akin to say Mount Kimbie, yet repurposed for angst-riddled displays of sonic, melancholic fury. That doesn't necessarily mean that there's a lack of chugging bangers with glistening synth lines, but they're deftly balanced with moments of triumphant catharsis.