Having spent years building a cult-like following with sonically punishing material and visually staggering live performances, Palm Reader have established themselves as a band worth paying attention to. Growing from humble house show roots to festival favourites, their cult began to grow after the success of their critically acclaimed 2018 album âBrailleâ, receiving positive reviews and praise from all corners of the progressive metal and hardcore world. A little over two years since its release, theyâre back with their brand new record âSleeplessâ, and itâs definitely going to turn even more heads in their direction.
Why, you ask?
Because itâs a masterpiece.
This album has been thoughtfully put together, the band having built a collection of songs with enthralling depth that beckons you in and envelops you completely. From the very beginning of the record that depth makes itself known, with opening number âHold/Releaseâ showcasing it both musically and lyrically. Comprised of atmospheric textures and push/pull dynamics that are mirrored by the lyrics, the song details the battle that many go through in regards to toxic masculinity, with vocalist Josh McKeown passionately crying, âEuphoria will never have a home in meâ.
âStay Downâ is home to a sound thatâll be more familiar to long-standing fans of the band, flaunting their popular blend of biting rawness and alluring heaviness. Based on the mental hardships that we all endure through these trying times, the song is a ferocious ode to all of us as we do our best to stay strong and keep moving forwards. âEnding Cycleâ is much calmer but just as introspective, using dream-like atmospherics and well-timed rises and falls as it tales the many faces of grief. The striking âWillowâ is like a blend of both, boasting crushing blows and restorative subtleties that work together to create a touching and impactful tale of a mother losing their child.
If this record proves anything about Palm Reader itâs that theyâre just as comfortable writing expansive epics as they are at writing balls-to-the-wall ragers, such as the soul-stirring âFalse Thirstâ and its vivid, lullaby imagery. âBoth Ends Of The Ropeâ is an elegant and pulsing entity using a number of narratives to tell different sides of the same story, all colliding together above an ever-evolving landscape full of ravenous guitars, luscious synths and futuristic sounds.
âA Bird And Its Feathersâ is the centrepiece of the album, however – a dark love song set beneath a continuously blackening sky, skulking towards a savage crescendo that concludes with a short and sharp cacophony of brass. This is a band at its most adventurous but also its most comfortable, putting out a devastatingly captivating record. Put simply, itâs absolutely breathtaking.
âSleeplessâ presents Palm Reader in a completely different light, bringing a stark vulnerability to the foreground and placing it at the very core of the record. That vulnerability is as fragile as it is warm and welcoming, allowing a whole host of sentiments and emotions to creep in and out of the spotlight at all the right times. Every song plays its part in a short story, crammed full of twists and turns, highs and lows, and everything in between, all masterfully dramatised to create a level of impassioned resonance that most bands can only dream of achieving.
If all of that isnât enough, itâs also one of those records that expands with every listen. Youâll find yourself floored after your first play, but each successive journey will reveal colours in the palette that you hadnât noticed before. Itâs a bleak, melancholy, pensive and gloomy offering on the surface, that much is clear, but there are strokes of resolve and glimmers of hope that break through in the face of even the darkest moments. This is the biggest, best and most mature sounding record of Palm Readerâs career, without a doubt. A very special album from one of the most criminally underrated bands that the UK has to offer.
DAVE STEWART