When I Am God — Oh, Sleeper

Oh, Sleeper's debut album, When I Am God, came out on Solid State Records on October 23, 2007. Andreas Magnusson produced it at Planet Red Studios in Richmond, Virginia. It's eleven tracks and about forty-two minutes (42:18). Micah Kinard screamed and wrote the lyrics, Shane Blay played lead guitar and sang the clean parts, and James Erwin, Lucas Starr and Ryan Conley filled out the lineup. The band came from Fort Worth, Texas. The album re-recorded all five songs from the band's 2006 EP, The Armored March. It sits on our metal shelf, firmly in the late-2000s Solid State metalcore lane. It scores a 7/10.

What you're hearing

Vices Like Vipers, the song the band made its video for, shows the formula at its best. Tight, heavy riffs, Kinard's harsh vocals and Blay's clean chorus pull against each other. AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia gave the album 3/5 and called it a "solid full-length debut." He compared the band to Norma Jean and As Cities Burn and named Vices Like Vipers, I Will Welcome the Reaping and The Siren's Song as standouts. He also felt that The Color Theft takes a while to get going and that the second half falls short of the first.

Christian outlets were warmer. Scott Fryberger at Jesus Freak Hideout gave it 4/5 on November 10, 2007. He heard the intensity of Norma Jean and Symphony in Peril and screams in the vein of Underoath, and his main complaint was the rhythm of the vocal lines. Indie Vision Music gave it 9/10. Punknews was much cooler, at 2.5/5.

How it was made

The band went to Virginia to work with Magnusson and brought its EP songs along to rebuild them for a full album. Fryberger pointed to the line "When I am God this church is unsound" in Vices Like Vipers as the key to the title. He read it as a picture of what happens when everyone tries to be the most important thing in life instead of letting God be God. Oh, Sleeper took the album on the road, including a tour supporting Demon Hunter alongside Living Sacrifice, Advent and The Famine.

Where the score lands

It gets a seven because the best songs are very good and the album as a whole is uneven, which is where most of the reviews ended up too. The front half, led by Vices Like Vipers, is as sharp as anything Solid State put out that year. Why not an eight? Rivadavia's point about the second half holds, and the re-recorded EP songs don't always fit the new ones. Why not a six? The Siren's Song, We Are the Archers and I Will Welcome the Reaping show a young band with a strong point of view, and the JFH and Indie Vision Music scores back that up.

Watch

Vices Like Vipers leads with its official music video. After it come the album versions of The Siren's Song and We Are the Archers.

Where this album sits on Loud Faith

When I Am God is a good snapshot of where Christian metalcore was in 2007, ten years after Reborn showed the way. It's heavier and more polished than the early records, and it asks pointed questions about faith. It belongs on our metal shelf, as the debut of a band that went on to make three more full-length albums.