Album Review: Tragedy In Hope – Sleep Paralysis (Self Released)
Tragedy In Hope are pleased to announce the band’s forthcoming full-length debut album, Sleep Paralysis. It’s out on February 12th 2021. The story told in the album’s lyrics is as gripping as it is chilling.
Guitarist, vocalist, and composer Sasha Giller describes it as follows:
The story you are going to hear isn’t only a trip across the dark dream world; it is also the story of fighting with yourself. It’s the story about how strong you can get once you accept yourself as you are.
The story of the album starts when the protagonist wakes up in a dream and goes to the mirror where he sees a twisted image of himself, the phantom monster of sleep paralysis. He escapes the place he found himself in, trying to run away from the bleak reality. He flies among white clouds trying to find a rainbow, but falls to the ground when thunderclouds and a storm come.
The world beneath the clouds is filled with rains and a piercing cold. To find a rainbow there seems to be impossible and the darkness slowly starts to swallow him as many others before. He doesn’t give up chasing it, but the truth is, it is him, who is the phantom monster behind the mirror. He is just the mind projection of the true protagonist, who sleeps paralysed seeing nightmares. He tries to explain to the true protagonist that they are two parts of the whole one and only if they accept each other, they both will be able to escape the dark world they are stuck in.
But when sleep paralysis finally ends, a lucid dream starts again.
The sense of dreamily drifting towards a horrifying conclusion is very strong throughout Sleep Paralysis. Having never suffered it myself, it’s hard to fully grasp what it might be like but the stories and tales told about it are terrifying. Tragedy in Hope’s goal is to make something akin to that experience through hauntingly cold melodies, furious black metal heaviness and lyrical content that reflects the debilitating effects.
It’s something accomplished immediately on the opening track, Lucid Dream. Where eerie and monochrome melody transforms into a harsh blast of blackness with a strong showcase of guitar riffing and rhythm. It does conjure up the imagery of suffering in a dream that feels all too real. Which most people can attest to having experienced at some point or another in their lives.
The Celebration of Despair and Woe takes that frenzied attack and adds a soft layer of symphonic-style bombastic-ness for added impact. Followed by the darker and deeper tempo shifts of Fighting With the Rain. Where the cold leave you shivering and desperate for some shelter just so you can escape the demons that attack the mind.
Such amazing music. We then get the encouraging madness of Winter Wedding Ceremony. Where the vocals reach a level of screeching that is downright uncomfortable. A playful and gothic-tone of The Mistress of Dark Art and the insatiable blackened power of Nightmare Lullaby. Here, most will be realise they’re lost in the darkness, tumbling into the void of never-waking dreams.
The nightmare is coming to an end but first, Tragedy in Hope have a few more experiences to share. The first being the feral blend of drums, guitars and vocals on Insomnious Autumnal Night. Where Tragedy in Hope stretch the excruciating suffering to breaking point. Then the title track ends the horror that such music created temporarily with a blazing and daringly hopeful sounding closer. Where the frenzy of blackened metal against the drops into soft melody are akin to the battle for dominance between the light and dark.
Such a wonderfully told story with the quality metal to back it up.
Tragedy in Hope – Sleep Paralysis Full Track Listing:
1. Lucid Dream
2. The Celebration Of Despair And Woe
3. Fighting With The Rain
4. Winter Wedding Ceremony
5. The Mistress Of Dark Art
6. Nightmare Lullaby
7. Insomnious Autumnal Night
8. Sleep Paralysis
Links
Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Tragedy In Hope - Sleep Paralysis (Self Released)
-
The Final Score - 9/10
9/10