***Where does reality end and where does it begin? And who, or what, decides this? Multinational experimental black metal enigma 夢遊病者 (SLEEPWAKER) re-propose this question to us via their masterful fourth album Skopofoboexoskelett, an enigmatic and playfully formulaic quandary of deconstructed visionary counter-music reminding us a simple concept: that reality is dictated by perception, and as such, by manipulating perception (via the arts), any reality is not only possible but also valid. And as is always the tradition with 夢遊病者, music is the alchemical key via which questions are raised and answers are found in the labyrinth of history, culture, lore and world traditions. In the case of Skopofoboexoskelett, an exploration of the notions of self-reflection, intuition, phobia, luck, and failure in the context of the evil eye, its historical, cultural, physical and metaphysical meanings, as well as its psychological effects, carefully unraveled and revealed. Within this paradigm "Skopofoboexoskelett" takes 夢遊病者's vision, agenda, and intents, further than ever before, with musical boundaries shattered, definitions pulverized, genres, styles and aesthetics ridiculed into a masterful sensorial manipulation which draws the listener into the deceptive and subversive absurdity that is their own perception being stimulated in unprecedented ways. Drawing their own line and dictating the guidelines of music's end as we know it, 夢遊病者 use their unique sonic idealizations made of lysergic black metal excoriations, kraut, psych, noise rock, world music, improvised deconstructionism and schizoid free jazz to transcend conscience and reason, devastate the senses (particularly the auditory one) and open the mind...
LP $23.95
09/01/2023
CD $13.85
09/29/2023
***Russian/Japanese/American experimental ritualistic black metal entity 夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker) emerge from slumber with "Noč Na Krayu Sveta" a two song/half-hour EP of liquefying hallucinogenic sonic alchemy and transcendental avant-garde excellence. In the vast two-song composition 夢遊病者 morph into their most abstract and defiant state yet, reaching a state of near-ethereal cinematic deconstructionism that only leaves vague traces and queues of their primordial and vast melting pot of influences. Within, black metal, kraut, noise rock, free-jazz, drone, middle-eastern incantations and ritualistic psychedelia are melted down in a lysergic kaleidoscopic frenzy of sounds and then sublimated to reach a new zenith of masterful immateriality which consecrates the band at its most ambitious and confrontational state yet. Challenging the listener's senses and perception at multiple levels, "Noč Na Krayu Sveta" pries the mind open to enter its deepest levels, defying its boundaries and expectations almost with arrogant unpredictability, crossing thresholds of experimentalism and of creative ambition we hadn't yet fathomed in the band's still short but extraordinary career, but which we can now gaze into in complete awe and wonder. The result... something standing astonishingly between Ved Buens Ende, Zeni Geva, Bohren And Der Club of Gore, Galloping Coroners, Urfaust, and The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble.
LP $21.50
04/02/2021
***Now a world-renowned phenomenon in the extreme / experimental underground, SLEEPWALKER (夢遊病者 ) return with another catastrophic mindfuck of shapeshifting and disorienting psychedelic black metal mastery that will shatter your synapses. Yus represents a crossing of worlds between the old and the new, the passing of power and skill from ancestor to youth and their successes and failures, the portal between distinct cultures, the obsolete alphabets and their new acquired meanings and the evolution of language and it’s proxy disciplines like music. One-sided LP with an etched B-side.
LP $16.35
05/03/2019
***Ichi-go ichi-e (for this time only, never again). This Japanese idiom is the central theme of the new, second, unbelievable album of the same name by the elusive psychedelic/avant garde black metal enigma SLEEPWALKER (夢遊病者 ). Once again fusing drone, raw black metal, kraut/psychedelic rock, free-jazz, noise rock, and tribal ritualism to absolutely mind-melting effect, Sleepwalker's idea behind this new record was to take central superstitions that rule the rhetoric of eastern lore and funnel them through the prism of the modern world. The final result: the band's staple psychedelic black metal mind-fuck ritual gloriously preserved and burning brighter and more insanely than ever. Suspended between the visionary opposites of bands like Voivod, Zeni Geva, Oxbow, King Crimson, Ornassi Pazuzu, Lurker of Chalice, and Xasthur, Sleepwalker have once again proven to be one of the most mind-expanding and visionary experimental black metal acts of our times.
LP $16.35
11/02/2018