SLEEPING GIANT WANT YOU TO JOIN THEIR ARMY
Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 3:30pm by Gary SuarezI’ve really been digging some hardcore this year, thanks largely to 2009 releases from acts like Coalesce, Lewd Acts (review here), Rise And Fall, and White Shit (review here). I spend a good bit of free time surfing the web to check out bands to hype here on the blog, and with Sleeping Giant, I’ve stumbled on to another great one. Now, before any corpse-painted atheists get all testy with me: yes, they are a Christian band. Yet to be closed-minded about Sleeping Giant simply because of their proselytizing lyrical content would be to miss out on a promising talent on par with early Hatebreed.
The video above (which does a fine job with a limited budget) is for “The Army Of The Chosen One,” which comes off the band’s sophomore Facedown Records album Sons Of Thunder. Sleeping Giant are currently on the California Love tour with deathcore kings Winds Of Plague and Oceano. Remaining dates are below.
Nov 30 Eagle Theatre Detroit, Michigan
Dec 1 The Reverb Toronto, Ontario
Dec 2 Tulipe Montreal, Quebec
Dec 3 The Palladium Worcester, Massachusetts
Dec 4 Crocodile Rock Allentown, Pennsylvania
Dec 5 Gramercy Theatre New York, New York
Dec 6 Hangar 84 Vineland, New Jersey
Dec 7 Jaxx Springfield, Virginia
Dec 8 The Masquerade Atlanta, Georgia
Dec 9 The Pit Jacksonville, Florida
Dec 10 The Legion Pensacola, Florida
Dec 11 Meridian Houston, Texas
Dec 12 White Rabbit San Antonio, Texas
Dec 13 Metropolis McAllen, Texas
Dec 14 Ridglea Theatre Ft. Worth, Texas
Dec 15 The Marquee Tulsa, Oklahoma
Dec 16 The Launchpad Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dec 17 The Clubhouse Phoenix, Arizona
Dec 18 The Farm Las Vegas, Nevada
Dec 19 The Glasshouse Pomona, California
*all dates with Winds of Plague, Stick To Your Guns, Oceano, and Circle of Contempt
-GS
[Gary Suarez saw Ninja Assassin this weekend and it was amazing. He usually manages WHOLLY DIVER (a Dio tribute site) and the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]
64 COMMENTS on “SLEEPING GIANT WANT YOU TO JOIN THEIR ARMY”
Nope
Yeah the preaching at the beginning kinda turned me off right away…and there was nothing about the song to turn me back on. Conclusion….limp
ughhhhhhhh. I’ll stick with the new Rise and Fall and the Coalesce EP.
hell no. this sucks. Even for someone that DOES like this, the VOCALS ARE WAY TOO LOUD!!!
I LOVE SLEEPING GIANT! I just started getting into these guys and I love their music. It’s not all just metal as some tracks on their new album Sons of Thunder contain a couple slow but awesome anthem-like tracks. I’m seeing them December 18 with Winds of Plague and I cannot wait to see this band play live! And I’m also a Christian so this is a big up for me! :)
I never listened this before, but i really like it, even with preacher and stuff..btw.. on the second part of the song, the singer sounds just like the guy from Demon Hunter
That’s because it IS the guy from Demon Hunter.
Mixdown anyone? Joshkid is right, vocals are way to loud.
Fucking appaling. The preachy fundamentalist bullshit just makes it easier to hate.
Gary, you have some strange-ass tastes in music…I mean, the whole prayer thing killed the beginning, but then it led to some seriously shitty music.
I dunno Gary, I’m usually with ya but I’ve heard this too many times before.
That was a prayer at the beginning? I didn’t even notice, though I did notice how loud the damned vocals were. Thumbs down.
SUCK
Wait, you enjoyed Ninja Assassin? If I was Axl or Vince, I would fire you just for that……
But seriously, terrible movie.
I’ve heard worse songs but man, that beginning perfectly captured the sound of failure.
As stated previously, the vocals are way too loud in the mix. Oh, and the band sucks too.
Yet another shit sandwich. It’d be fun to go to one of their shoes wearing a “lick my balls if you love jesus” T-shirt.
And I’m pretty sure once you have walked into one of their shoes with said shirt on, you would be in the fetal position holding your balls.
Oh cisco. You make such claims, but I know you’re not REALLY a christian. Jesus wouldn’t want you to be violent. What was that thing about loving your enemies as your brothers? Hmmm, but the church isn’t really based on the teachings of Christ, is it? It’s based on keeping people in the dark and controlling them with the denial of scientific fact and withheld information.
People? More like sheeple.
+1 and I’m a Christian.
You guys truly have no taste in opening your mind to such music like this. Who cares if there’s a prayer at the beginning of the song? Who cares if the vocals are really loud? Who cares if they are a Christian band? Why must people bash this band for being a Christian band? It’s almost like Christian metal shouldn’t exist because it gets bashed on constantly. Some Christian metal sound more musically inventive and talented than most mainstream, non-religious metal. Not to mention that if you go to a Christian concert of any kind, there are more people getting along with the music than any other concert ever! Point proven for For Today. I went to see them live a couple weeks ago and there was so much crowd interaction, chanting, stagediving, people jumping on the stage screaming the lyrics, it figures that once you bash religion, you won’t see the light of day. Not only does bashing religion make you look stupid, it just makes people wonder why people who do try to make everything seem like this world should be wasted of all religions. Not everything revolves around bashing religion. If you have anything to say about the religion in any kind, shape, or form, then keep it to yourself.
Oh and by the way, I loved Ninja Assassin. Haven’t seen any movie as bloody, as gory, and as fast-paced like any other movie in my life.
Nope, the track just blows without any of that religion stuff.
This.
Ummm, please cite sources please. That band you listed sucks. Give me ONE technical christian band, please. Also that whole “don’t bash religion thing,” yeah, you should go kill yourself. Bashing religion on all of its hypocritical and ignorant statements is actually pretty intelligent. Well, at least more intelligent than religious people.
Technical christian bands: Becoming The Archetype, Living Sacrifice, Extol, Soul Embraced, The Famine, Believer. Some are more technical than others, but all are somewhat technical.
I also recommend you listen to the band Hands and their album called “Creator”. Christian or not, it’s one of the best metal albums of the year. It’s more post-metal than tech-metal, but it’s brilliant.
I’ll give you living sacrifice. Bu the others bore me.
You know some religious people are smarter than your ignorant comment about non-religious people being more intelligent than religious ones. Until you go to a church and hear a message and talk to people that believe in what you call “blasphemy”, keep those retarded comments to yourself. And why should I kill myself? If I told you the same thing, would you do it? And to give you ONE technical Christian band, that would be The Crimson Armada. Now the band claims that they are not a Christian band but they also do say that the bands members are in fact Christians themselves and their lyrics clearly show why they are.
That whole bit about “until you go to church…”
THAT was a belligerent mess. WTF are you talking about what I call “blasphemy”?
RELIGION IS UNINTELLIGENT. That’s the basic fact. It denies scientific evidence. And, christianity especially, contradicts itself. There is no god of the desert, get over that. Your murderous, slave-hungry, blood-lusted killer of a deity does not exist.
And nope, Crimson Armada sucked.
You do know that in most cases Christianity isn’t a religion right? I know that religion is unintelligent but not when you do it for the right reasons. That might be something hard to understand at first but if you look at it this way, the Bible is based on real-life events. Christianity can really be called the one true religion because obviously being a suicide bomber doesn’t get you to Heaven. And WTF do you mean by a murderous, slave-hungry, blood-lusted killer of a deity? And I know God exists. I have experienced him. Until you can prove to me that God doesn’t exist, let me know.
Wow. I mean you were fucking retarded, but THIS takes the cake. There’s nothing you can say to redeem your stupidity.
1. I never said god doesn’t exist, just not YOUR god.
2. Go read the old testament. You want some examples about why your god is evil?
They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)
Then they thought of the annual festival of the LORD held in Shiloh, between Lebonah and Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem. They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards. When the women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to be your wife! And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be understanding. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find enough wives for them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not give your daughters in marriage to them.’” So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. They kidnapped the women who took part in the celebration and carried them off to the land of their own inheritance. Then they rebuilt their towns and lived in them. So the assembly of Israel departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes.
and that’s just TWO examples.
3. You have no proof that heaven exists.
4. The bible is NOT based on real life events. It is most certainly fictitious. Science has disproven not only the flood of noah’s ark, but there is doubt that even Jesus was really there. Not only that, but there are so many falses in the bible. The creation myth, jonah and the whale, all that bullshit.
5. You’re a fucking moron. You need to seriously re-evaluate yourself, because something is seriously wrong with you.
Check out godisimaginary.com or evilbible.com
“You guys truly have no taste in opening your mind to such music like this.”
You mean ultra-pared down metal? Yup, you got me.
“Who cares if there’s a prayer at the beginning of the song?”
I do. It’s excessive, and while it adds to the band’s message, that message is questionable religious zealotry.
“Who cares if the vocals are really loud?”
Because it’s bad mixing, you twat. No one accepts that in other bands, so why should we forgive it here?
“Why must people bash this band for being a Christian band? It’s almost like Christian metal shouldn’t exist because it gets bashed on constantly. Some Christian metal sound more musically inventive and talented than most mainstream, non-religious metal.”
If it should exist, it should be musically inventive and talented. But it’s not; most Christian bands are still stuck at second-rate metalcore AT BEST. I don’t know about others, but I bash Christian metal because, by far, it is terribly unoriginal, mediocre, and sacrifices musicality for the sake of “message,” particularly when the only reason the band labeled themselves as Christian was to obtain a record deal.
“Point proven for For Today.”
While For Today may be relatively better than these guys, they’re not much better than the Christian pack overall. Good live shows don’t make good music, necessarily.
“But it’s not; most Christian bands are still stuck at second-rate metalcore AT BEST.”
Zao – Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest
Strongarm – Advent of a Miracle
Hopesfall – No Wings to Speak Of
Three metal/hardcore/hardish Christianized bands that EVERYONE copied.
For the record, I don’t like these guys at all…and I share their beliefs.
Even if I believe that everyone copied those albums, a claim I find ambiguous and subjective enough to be skeptical of it, how in the world does three bands constitute “most” or exclude “most”?
You mean ultra-pared down metal? Yup, you got me.
~Hatebreed is more ultra-pared down metal than Sleeping Giant.
I do. It’s excessive, and while it adds to the band’s message, that message is questionable religious zealotry.
~That doesn’t mean you have to hear it and think “this is offending me.” If you hear it, ignore the fact that it is a prayer and just listen to the song in which the lyrics don’t sound strongly Christian.
Because it’s bad mixing, you twat. No one accepts that in other bands, so why should we forgive it here?
~This is what’s called Youtube quality. It makes things sound more different and more strange sounding. The vocals blend in well with the LOUD music.
If it should exist, it should be musically inventive and talented. But it’s not; most Christian bands are still stuck at second-rate metalcore AT BEST. I don’t know about others, but I bash Christian metal because, by far, it is terribly unoriginal, mediocre, and sacrifices musicality for the sake of “message,” particularly when the only reason the band labeled themselves as Christian was to obtain a record deal.
~That doesn’t mean they have to be stuck there. Maybe those Christian bands like the sound of second-rate metalcore. You have bands like Underoath, The Devil Wears Prada, Oh Sleeper, Spoken, and The Wedding, and then you have bands like Miss May I, Bring Me the Horizon, Attack! Attack!, Oceana, and A Skylit Drive. To me, all those bands sound like your definition of “second-rate metalcore” and are therefore unoriginal and mediocre. The message behind the music has nothing to do with how they play the music. Also, the way the bands play their music has nothing to do with how they have to play and how they should play their music. Also, not all Christian bands are on Christian record labels and they didn’t get a deal because they are Christians. They got a deal because they have some form of musical talent.
While For Today may be relatively better than these guys, they’re not much better than the Christian pack overall. Good live shows don’t make good music, necessarily.
~I agree and disagree with that statement. Wasn’t much of a fan of High on Fire until I saw them live and they sounded heavy and nice but when I heard it in CD quality, it sounded horrible, Gojira the same way. I didn’t like them too much though I did enjoy their music. When I saw them live, it was all heavy, everyone was headbanging, and there were moshpits. But after I bought their CD “The Way of All Flesh”, it sounds really good and the quality is great. For Today is an awesome metal band and most of their songs are all anthems. Whether or not the lyrics make or break for the band, the songs come out amazing and seeing it live was even better.
Hatebreed =/= metal. You lost all possible credentials within the metal community if you’re going to assume that. Hardcore punk is NOT metal.
The youtube quality thing, that’s a cop-out. THAT is the official video. That means they didn’t change the mixing for a specific site. Even the album version sounds bad like that. Fail excuse from a fail brain.
That whole ignore the lyrics bullshit, and you don’t have to let it offend you. Look at christians. Soon as you say something satanic or anti-christian BAM, they have a justifiable hatred towards it. They’re offended by something that insults their mindset. It’s the same here. Sleeping Giant is a fucking right-wing, conservative, born-again band to the CORE. They are fucking AWFUL, and their message is a repugnant advocation of the repulsive god of the desert. That to me is insulting. I won’t go around that, and I won’t ignore it. They’re advocating something that is against my base values. Let’s pretend for a minute, that you’re not a fucking moron, and people do get into things that advocate what they can’t stand. THE MUSIC IS BORING HARDCORE. It’s not interesting. It’s not inventive. It’s just a bunch of noise and a few “god rocks” stickers.
If christian bands LIKE medio-core (like the pun?) then why are you defending them? You’ve obviously agreed mediocore sucks. Their personal taste doesn’t matter. What he, and what all of us, are saying is that we hate the message, and the music doesn’t make up for it. Whether or not the BAND likes it is irrelevant. My band likes all of our songs, and you’ve never heard of us.
Also, you’re advocating the whole “signed=musical talent thing,” really? I mean, I know your mind is compromised by years of zealot style brainwashing, but DAMN. Kanye West is signed. Britney Spears is signed. Do they have talent? NO. It’s called a trend.
I hope christianity is just a trend.
Wow, you really have no idea what it means to be a Christian, or do you know anything about this band. As was said earlier to you, since you speak with so much conviction, if there is no “evil God of the desert” or however you put it, prove it. All you can do is have an opinion that someone else has had before you. You can’t think for yourself. And, I do admit there’s as many Christians just like that as atheists, if not more. That’s what Sleeping Giant refers to, is what the church is right now, and it’s painting an ugly picture for everyone, and it’s turning a lot of people off to following Christ. People get so apathetic, content and complacent with their lives, it’s sickening. And, “real” Christians aren’t “left-wing” or “right wing.” Conservatism or liberalism (should) have no place in the Church. Christ himself was actually very much politically incorrect. And yes, way too many people do in fact ignore the Old Testament. They read the Bible as “pick and choose.” But, it all comes with the package.
Try listening to Aletheian, Inevitable End, Misery Chastain, Mortification, Soul Embraced, A Plea For Purging, and In The Midst of Lions. Could list more, but I’ll leave it at that.
Love this band. I really wasn’t a fan until I saw them play live. They blew me away in concert! Very powerful performance!
Yeah, like previous people said, who ever produced this really fucked it up by making the vocals 3x louder than everything else. Color me ignorant but I really don’t see a huge difference between this and that french hardcore band thats was posted a few days ago.
They fucking suck. Fuck christian bands.
I object that statement. Listen to Becoming the Archetype, Frost Like Ashes, Dark Lay Still, The Famine, The Great Commission, A Plea for Purging, August Burns Red, Impending Doom, and The Showdown.
Impending Doom is a shitty deathcore band. August Burns Red have ONE good song. All the others are either “Verb The Noun” style fill-in-the-blank-core bands or less stereotypical, but just as retarded filll-in-the-blank-core.
Immortal Souls is christian Melodeth band. They are good, and I don’t like christian metal.
Didn’t like them at all.
The only Christian bands I like are Vengeance Rising, Incubus (from Louisiana), and Tourniquet, but Tourniquet’s lyrics are fucking awful.
ABR are garbage, The Showdown is OK, Impending Doom sucks, and, unless I’m getting them mixed up with another band, A Plea For Purging and Becoming the Archetype both suck.
Said the un-magic words, Facedown Records. There is not a band on that label that doesn’t suck.
After making that statement, and checking wiki, I would like to expand it to stretch past and present bands.
footnote: Youtube/myspace do weird shit to music when it gets uploaded to them, maybe the album mix/high biterate mp3 would suck less? (vocal mix wise, song still sucks).
Have you ever listened to Hands?
After 3 seconds of the first song on their myspace I hold strong with the above.
No musical talent whatsoever. Complete and utter garbage.
I liked this band better when they were called Despair.
Wow, yeah, the vocals are crazy loud. Not bad though.
Does the album cover on their myspace remind anyone else of Jane Doe meets Obzen?
Just thought I’d point that out…
I know nothing about this band beyond what I’ve just read, but I can already tell that they suck. How can I tell? because they’re a christian “metal” band and, MORE IMPORTANTLY: Gary Suarez recommended them
I’ll stick with Hatebreed’s new album any day over this if I’m going to listen to hardcore
This is fucking horrible, just horrible.
Having seen these guys back in 2008, I remember being thoroughly impressed with their stage show. Despite having to preach for 15 minutes halfway through, they were heavy, tight and got the crowd moving even if they were simplistic and “second rate.” This though… fucking awful. For all the sound quality reasons listed above, but most of all, it’s just flat out BORING. “Chug, chug, chug, chug, JESUS, chug, chug, chug, JESUS” repeat. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must go listen to Believer to remind myself of a good Christian band.
That’s one of the weirdest mixes I’ve ever heard, no kidding. Vocals are WAY too loud. And yeah, the song was just flat out boring bullshit. They’re just chugging on the same tone all through the song? Wow, that’s some tech shit right there. This sucks.
Yup; bad mix. Vocals waay too loud.
They would be even louder if compressed for a broadcast!
I was all pumped to deliver my witty 2 cents about how & why this band sucks…
And then I read all the above support God/there is no God bullshit, and that did it for me.
1. all religion should be banished
2. learn some riffs, get a decent singer, lose the ignorant God ideology, apply more than 10% effort in writing a song and then maybe you won’t suck so bad
Ah, love the user/screename. And, in case all you people didn’t know, these guys, and The Great Commission are what became of xDeathstarx.
chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chugchug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug
Haha pretty much, but you missed out a ‘jesus’ after the 23rd chug.
it’s not the Christian themes that bother me that much, although these guys are way too fucking preachy (I enjoy the musical stylings of August Burns Red, Norma Jean, and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster), but the music itself is utter utter shit. One note chug the whole song? really? Bad vocals as well. Sleeping Giant is ass.