Son of the Morning — Oh, Sleeper

Son of the Morning is the second album by Oh, Sleeper, the metalcore band from Fort Worth, Texas. Solid State Records released it on August 25, 2009. It's ten songs in just under thirty-four minutes, and it tells one story from start to finish, the last battle between Jesus and Satan. Two years after When I Am God, the band came back heavier on guitar, lighter on atmosphere, and surer of what it wanted to say.

The story

Andreas Magnusson, who'd also produced The Black Dahlia Murder, produced the album, and the band recorded it at Planet Red Studios in Richmond, Virginia. The lineup was Micah Kinard on lead vocals, Shane Blay on lead guitar and clean vocals, James Erwin on rhythm guitar, Lucas Starr on bass and Matt Davis on drums. Kinard wrote all the lyrics, and the whole band wrote the music. The ten songs, in order, are "Son of the Morning," "The New Breed," "In All Honesty," "Breathing Blood," "Reveries of Flight," "World Without a Sun," "The Fire Dawn," "A Banquet for Traitors," "Commissioned by Kings" and "The Finisher." You can read more about the band on the Oh, Sleeper band page.

The title track opens with the devil doing the talking. Kinard screams Satan's threats at Jesus, and the chorus, sung by Blay, is Christ's answer: "If you could see like me you'd see you haven't won anything. If you could see like me you'd see, it's by my grace that you're breathing." The songs in the middle have Jesus speaking to people on earth and gathering his angels. Then the closer, "The Finisher," settles it. Jesus wins, and the last line takes the devil's horns away.

That last line explains the cover. At a glance it looks like an inverted pentagram, but the two points that would make the horns are missing. It's known as the broken pentagram, the band designed it, and it's been their symbol ever since. John "Flip" Choquette at Jesus Freak Hideout knew it would put some people off. "To someone passing by the album in the store, Oh, Sleeper's newest outing may seem offensive or rude," he wrote. His advice was to listen closely, because in the band's telling, "God's victory over Satan can be represented in this way."

The sound

The big change from the debut is the guitar. Blay had played in Between the Buried and Me before Oh, Sleeper, and here he's let off the leash. Botong Li at Rockfreaks.net said Blay's lead work leaves "scorch marks throughout with his dazzling fret work," from the title track right through to "the blazing solo on the closer 'The Finisher'." Li also noticed the trade-off. The thick, moody feel of the first album had been "lessened in favour of more direct and more riff-based song structures."

"The New Breed" is the most fun song here. Dave Synyard at Exclaim! said it "brings about an anthemic hardcore feeling that gets paired with pop rhythms," and that "World Without A Sun" "proves that Oh, Sleeper are shred-worthy." "In All Honesty" brings in a guest, Cody Bonnette of As Cities Burn, who sings alongside Blay against Kinard's screams. Michael Mayer III at Indie Vision Music called Bonnette's calm voice "unmistakable."

"Reveries of Flight" is the album's breather. It starts slowly, with Blay singing over light electronic touches that Mayer said "remind me of The Postal Service." Not everyone bought it. Logan Broger at Hearwax Media heard "a band trying too hard to follow in Thrice's footsteps." We like it. It's the one place the album slows down long enough to feel something other than war.

"Breathing Blood" is the most human song on the record. Mayer read it as a song about "someone who has lived a life as a murderer and is struggling to find where they belong as they don't feel worthy of any redemption." In the middle of a story about angels and devils, it brings things back down to one person who doesn't think he can be saved.

What the critics said

Reviews split hard. The Christian press loved it. Choquette called it "a musical and lyrical masterpiece full of some of the freshest and most technical songs in their genre." Scott Fryberger, writing a second opinion for the same site, praised "ten tracks of delicious metalcore" and called it "a fantastic follow-up." Mayer said "this is no sophomore slump" and called it "the perfect soundtrack to spiritual warfare and a refreshing entry into a stagnant genre." Synyard had the best line of the lot: "Red Bull should be selling this stuff for four bucks a can."

Others heard a band playing strictly by the rules. Broger thought the group's "technical skill is rather impressive," but said "that other vital part of being a good band – you know, songwriting – is lacking." He felt the breakdowns were "thrown in as transitions (that often don't make sense)." The staff reviewer at Sputnikmusic, writing as Xenophanes, gave it 2.5 out of 5 and called it "a rather uninspired attempt at a grandiose, multi-layered, concept piece." He thought Kinard "offers little variation," but he liked Blay, and he singled out "New Breed" and "The Finisher" as the best songs. Li gave it 7.5 out of 10, and his complaint was smaller. He felt a few songs late in the album "tended to blur together a little bit."

Mayer's only real gripe was the length. At just over half an hour, he said, the album "left me begging for more."

The verdict

Son of the Morning isn't the most original metalcore album of 2009, and the critics who said so weren't wrong. But it's tight, it's short, and it knows exactly what it's about. Blay's guitar is the star, the title track and "The Finisher" frame the story well, and very few heavy records from this scene put the gospel so plainly at the centre. It's the album that gave Oh, Sleeper its symbol, and it still hits hard. Start with the official video for "Son of the Morning," then go straight to "The Finisher."

7/10

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