Black Sleep of Kali

Listening to Our Slow Decay, Black Sleep of Kali's latest effort, calls to mind easy comparisons to Torche because of the heavy melodicism and aggressive vocals, while the progressive structures and densely layered, expansive guitar work recall mid-era Isis. Rather than clutter the songwriting by hitting the listener with as...

By Tom Murphy

October 7, 2010

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Listening to Our Slow Decay, Black Sleep of Kali's latest effort, calls to mind easy comparisons to Torche because of the heavy melodicism and aggressive vocals, while the progressive structures and densely layered, expansive guitar work recall mid-era Isis. Rather than clutter the songwriting by hitting the listener with as many riffs and sounds as possible in a small space, Black Sleep wisely makes excellent use of dynamics, opening each song up and allowing the band to strike with a palpable intensity that otherwise gets lost amid pointless exercises in throwaway volume. The result is an album that is tuneful yet punishing, informed by a cinematically dark imagination.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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Twitter: @simianthinker