Formed by school friends in former mining villages near Sheffield, While She Sleeps were briefly on a major label but have gone an independent route to build a passionate fanbase large enough for them to headline London’s 10,000 capacity Alexandra Palace. Meanwhile, over 17 years the quintet’s music has developed beyond metalcore to reflect wider influences from Radiohead to Kendrick Lamar.
This sixth album attempts the sort of genre-busting metamorphosis Linkin Park went for with A Thousand Suns. Riffola and guttural, screamed vocals still abound (singer Loz Taylor has had three throat operations). Where 2021’s Sleeps Society album featured guests from Enter Shikari, Biffy Clyro and Sum 41, here Malevolence’s Alex Taylor pops in for the brutally anthemic Down.
However, elsewhere there are acoustic guitars, raps and boyband-style harmonies. No Feeling Is Final is an electronic landscape reminiscent of Tangerine Dream, or John Carpenter’s horror soundtracks, while moody epic To the Flowers mixes atmospheric metal, Orbital-type synth squiggles and a vocal sample of 20th-century philosopher and spiritual leader Jiddu Krishnamurti. The songs address mental health topics such as hiding rather than confiding or putting on a brave face in a crisis. Some lyrics feel a bit too rudimentary, although “leave me the fuck alone” gives the furious, hardcore Leave Me Alone a catchy chorus.
Self Hell doesn’t always successfully navigate the difficult terrain between pleasing a hardcore following and broadening a sound, but the band certainly aren’t standing still.
