SLEEPING GIANT – The Beauty Of Obliteration

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6.5

• Bands:
  SLEEPING GIANT (IS)
• Duration: 00:35:13
• Available from: 02/06/2026
• Label:

• Octopus Rising

Streaming not yet available

Sleeping Giant are an Icelandic band founded some time ago, but which have only recently been appearing on the international metal scene; this “The Beauty Of Obliteration” is their long-distance debut (in every sense) and in broad terms it is exactly what you would expect from a Northern European doom metal band.
Iceland is usually a land of musical avant-garde, but Sleeping Giant stay far away from it, opting instead for a multifaceted sound with some hints of originality, but firmly anchored to the nineties.
First of all there is British doom, but not that of the sacred triad of Peaceville (Paradise Lost, Anathema and My Dying Bride), we must rather bring up the Cathedral of “The Ethereal Mirror” or “Carnival Bizzarre”; then we have a bit of sludge from the United States (Down, early Mastodon and High On Fire above all), and finally there are some reminiscences of extreme metal from Northern Europe, be it the first Tiamat or Amorphis or the more rhythmic melodic death metal of Gothenburg.
Perhaps the key to understanding lies in this mix: the six boys from Reykjavik fit into a stylistic register halfway between classic doom and extreme metal, and they certainly don't come first in this, but they still do it with conviction and in their own way, translating the sludge material from overseas onto typically Northern European tracks and preferring the metal approach to the hardcore one.

The work consists of six pieces of medium-long length, as befits the genre, with the exception of the fifth “Venom Ripper, Gorgon Blaster”, short and fast; the third song, “The Monk”, appears to be the most interesting, by virtue of the numerous and sudden changes in speed that give unpredictability and manage to keep the attention high, but the album still maintains a decent level throughout its duration, even if sometimes the flow of the riffs is not so compelling and it is a bit difficult to follow the band in its sonic raids.
Of all this, the most extreme aspect is the voice of singer Oddur Freyr Þorsteinsson, a very deep growl that would also fit well on a funeral doom album. Where, for example, some passages could recall the latest, more metallic Orange Goblin (see the latest “Abysmal Flame”), the singing instead pushes towards other shores; the charisma is there, the technique as well and Oddur Freyr brings the result home, but the absence of a more versatile singing is a bit noticeable, especially in the more typically doom moments, such as for example on the opening piece “Conqueror” – among the most linear of the lot – which would require some variation in register in order to make the vocal part more incisive and truly memorable.
The work of the instrumentalists is also good: the harmonizations between the three guitars are interesting, the rhythm section is very square, but it is the whole ensemble that works more than anything else, and it would seem to be the result of many years of training between the various members.

The work overall resembles a sort of Columbus egg: after having chosen the style that best suits their talents among the countless subgenres of metal, the islanders try to play it to the best of their abilities, having fun and trying to entertain the listener; the intent may not always be successful throughout the album, due to a certain underlying cumbersomeness, but the effort is there, it is palpable and we believe it should still be rewarded.
Returning to the initial discussion, it certainly cannot be said that they are not in some way linked to the territory, but in this case without folk or experimentation as happens instead with other groups: the melodic choices recall Nordic scenarios rather than the torrid and sunny ones of the American sludge-doom groups, but you will not find in the music of Sleeping Giant the drone-doom suggestions of Pthumulhu, the new wave or viking turns of Sòlstafir or the peculiarities of their others fellow countrymen, just forty minutes of healthy and sincere metal of the past.