Review by JD on July 1, 2012.

I gotta say, I have never come across a metal band that was from Luxembourg before and yet here I sit with Sleeper’s Guilt... a band from there. Curious beyond belief with this bands from one of the smallest countries in Europe, I will go on and see what the small nation has to offer.

Sleeper’s Guilt is an odd sort of beast indeed. I doing the research on this band, it is reported that they are classed as being Progressive/Groove metal but I dispute that to some degree. It is true there is the progressive angle, and great groove... but they are heavier than the normal when it comes to these genres. They add in doses of a offshoot stylings of Children Of Bodom as well as stealing a little from Gothic Rock and metal as well. Whatever they are in your eyes, they are musically strong... but there is a downside though.

Melodic, progressive and heavy, this is Prog to the tenth power. Sleeper’s Guilt shifts and moves like a cat on the hunt, the clean and snarled vocals are in your face and never leaving while the guitars seems to know when to attack and when to just be. The only drawback is the over use of the keyboards. Stuck between being a accompanying instrument and straight out leading the music, its overuse reduces the pleasure factor by as much as half - not to mention just plainly useless in spots.

I liked the album, but did not love it. It shows a group that has such a grasp of great musicianship, but the music itself sometimes lacks the balls to be effective. An intriguing release as it is due to the lyrics which are strong and intelligent, but I was left needing more from them. They were close to the sound like on the opening riffs of 'World In Ashes', but the feel moved away as soon as you got into the song’s main parts. That was one of the points that they lost me, sadly.

Going a little heavier and dialling back the overused keyboards would take them from just mildly interesting and reduced to being a good opening act to amazing headliners. They have the talent to take it to that place, they just got to stop over-thinking the music and simply play more straight ahead.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:9 (keyboard over use lowers this)
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7
Originality: 7
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.4 out of 10