Review: Sleeping Peonies - Ghosts, and Other Things

Artist: Sleeping Peonies
Title: Ghosts, and Other Things
Format: EP
Year: 2011
Label: Khrysanthoney
Genre: Heavily fuzzing black metal
Rating: 81 / 100

Somehwere along Velvet Cacoon's footsteps, Sleeping Peonies appeared last year with their first demo Rose Curl, Sea Swirl. It was very positively received among some Clair Cassis, Velvet Cacoon and Alcest devotees. It wouldn't be a big surprise to mention that Sleeping Peonies' style of Black Metal lies somehwere between these bands. It has the droning sound of the earlier on this blog discussed Clair Cassis, but the dreaminess often found within Neige's compositions, mixed with some Lovesliescrushing/Astrobrite tender fuzziness. All with all Sleeping Peonies creates a fairly original blend of tones, but obviously inspired (also lyrically) by Josh/Clair Cassis, it even makes me wonder if Josh isn't involved in any way.

This EP is basically the Krysanthoney sequel to their first EP, which was nothing more but a very fine introduction to Sleeping Peonies' sound: a droning bass, which often makes me seasick, delayed drums (what the fudge? yes, really) and a blurred wall of fuzzy guitars. New on this EP are the occasionally appearing samples and the introduction of a synth. Vocals are tortured moans, mixed to the background, of course drenched in reverb and delay, like practically every other instrument on this EP. This might make it hard to distinguish every instrument, every melody, but who the fudge ever wants to hear a single melody when your ears could be pampered with the harmony of hundreds.

This is black metal at its absolute sweetest, it's one big noisy, fuzzy haze of rumbling violence, but with a gentle marination of chocalate, cinnamon and brown sugar. Very few will ever top Babysbreath by Lovesliescrushing or Astrobrite's Tearjerker, but this EP approaches a lot closer than most of the other albums made in this style.

Nothing solves iterated integrals better than cinnamon,

Selwin.