It’s with great pleasure, that we’ve crowned While She Sleeps debut full length This Is The Six to album of the month. Lawrence, Mat, Sean, Adam, and Aaran have had our support since The North Stands For Nothing came out two years ago, and they played their very first show in Holland. It felt nothing but natural to grant This Is The Six the AOTM title.

While She Sleeps strongly reminds me of Parkway Drive; they’re a sincere group of down-to-earth guys, playing metalcore with a hardcore attitude, and delivering great video material. I can only hope that the Sleeps guys achieve what Parkway Drive have achieved over the last three years, but I have no doubt that they will. This Is The Six is the next step that carves their impressive path.

The album opens with ‘Dead Behind The Eyes’, the track the band released earlier this year as a single, complete with a music video to go with it. This track features guest vocals by none other than Andrew Neufeld of Comeback Kid.

‘False Freedom’ follows, a song with a composition like that of a classical orchestra, complete with choir and all. This very bombastic sound stands more or less central on this new WSS release: big, over-the-top, but above all “next level”. In a sense it are songs like ‘False Freedom’ and ‘Seven Hills’ that show us that the band has stepped up their game even further from their ‘Be(lie)ve’ single release.

These big, thematic songs go hand in hand with the heavier songs, like ‘Satisfied In Suffering’ and even partly title track ‘This Is The Six’, which has an insanely heavy opening. In a way these tracks remind me of Slipknot‘s level of energy, on record and on stage. It are songs like these that keep this record interesting, and keep the record pumping. A big plus on these songs: Mat’s clear, raw sounding vocals.

The element that stands out as the absolute characteristic of the album, maybe even of this band, are the bits like the opening of ‘Love At War’ and the outro track ‘Reunite’. These catchy choruses accompanied with the melodic tunes of piano and the echoing bangs of drums will stick with you for days, and will dominate every While She Sleeps show to come.

This Is The Six is a perfect evolvement from their previous The North Stands For Nothing release. The band stuck to their own authentic sound, yet they’ve achieved to grow tremendously within their own borders. I believe This Is The Six to be one of the most convincing records I have heard in hardcore music thus far. While She Sleeps still has a lot more to offer to this scene, and I’m excited to see where this record will take them.

Track list – This Is The Six:

1. Dead Behind The Eyes
2. False Freedom
3. Satisfied In Suffering
4. Seven Hills
5. Our Courage, Our Cancer
6. This Is The Six
7. The Chapel
8. Be(Lie)Ve
9. Until The Death
10. Love At War
11. The Plague Of A New Age
12. Reunite

While She Sleeps: Facebook / Website / Merch This Is The Six