Why I love this song || While She Sleeps —Death Toll
While She Sleeps is a British band that I comfortably and proudly rank amongst my favourites of all time. And like with every meaningful relationship, it both exhilarates and disappoints.
I became aware of While She Sleeps in late 2012, and became very familiar with them in January of 2013, courtesy of my brother-in-law, Henk.
The first time we ever had a meaningful conversation, was about my attending Rock Am Ring and Download festival in 2013. the first question he asked me, was if While She Sleeps were playing either of these shows, and it took a few weeks before I understood why that was his first question.
His first encounter with While She Sleeps was in 2012 at Graspop Metal Meeting where WSS were playing in a tent. He got there just as Loz had leapt off the stage to do a stage dive. He turned to his mate, asking if they were done playing, thinking he had missed the show. The guy turned to him, saying, “Dude, they haven’t played a song yet”.
Their debut album, This Is The Six had already been released and I was listening to it, religiously. The first ever purchase from my first ever paycheck I got from my first ever permanent employment as a scientist, was a pair of Parrot Zik headphones.
The track I used to refine and ultimately consummate my impulse purchase, was Love At War.
The song starts off with the piano and gang vocals and then progresses into this melody-driven lead, heavy guitar chords, and perfectly complimentary drums.
Then it goes into a blast beat section before it goes into a classic Sean Long, While She Sleeps riff.
The entire song is a journey of aggression, precision and melody.
The entire album, to this day, remains one of the most unique creations I have ever heard.
From the first song, to the last song of the Deluxe album, it is sheer perfection.
Although not without exception, they really leaned into the unrelenting intensity that is Loz Taylor’s vocals. It was a very sharp tip, of a very heavy spear, and it absolutely tore apart your expectations and the clean-vocal-chorus-comfort your ears have started expecting from the metalcore genre.
Dead Behind These Eyes, the album opener sets the tone for the album.
The track on this album I want to go into detail about, is Death Toll.
This track was released as a single only after the album was released and was part of the Deluxe Album.
I remember the first time I heard this track. I remember it very well. I remember the music video. I still get the same goosebumps I did 9 years ago. As I sit here, I cannot believe how spectacular this track truly is.
While She Sleeps— Death Toll || 17.5/20
Sonic Magic || 4/5
The production on this track is quite spectacular. The drums are massive. The bass is in your face, the guitar tone is brutal. The vocals are scorching. It is one of the best collections of instrument sounds I have ever heard, and it loses out only to the Metallicas and Rammsteins of the world.
To be fair, the production is not that crisp, but the guitar tone, and the vocal tone, is incredible. It makes for very memorable artefacts.
Musicianship and technical proficiency || 4/5
This is not an overly technical song by any means. The riffing is up there with the Josh Middletons and the John Brownes, although, more tasteful. It is not designed to be technical.
These are some of the best musicians and their tightness and delivery is spectacular.
Overall composition & Surprise || 4/5
This track is a short song. However, during the four minutes, it captures your attention and your imagination. It starts off with a haunting introduction of guitar melody and gang vocals that foreshadows what is to come, only to over-deliver on your expectation.
The chorus repeats only once. It has a massive bridge with a buildup and breakdown that has aged very gracefully, even though the practice of breakdowns has gotten less popular in my music library over the years.
Vocals || 4/5
This is Loz Taylor at his very best. His delivery is desperate. The gang vocals, a feature that they have become overly reliant on in later albums (in my opinion, undermines the immense vocal presence of Loz Taylor), creates the perfect question/answer dynamic with Loz, whilst Loz is still the main vocal focus.
The vocal performance by Loz on this track, is on par, if not better than the best in this style of singing, including Oli Sykes, and Sam Carter. This collective vocal performance is outdone only by the greats of metal Vocals, like Phil Anselmo and Corey Taylor.
Lyrics || 4/5
Loz is an exceptional lyricist. This track shows some of his most poetic lines, like “We’re not bitter, just bitten with rage”.
This track is bested only by Loz himself, Oli Sykes on some of BMTHs tracks and Tom Searle on some of his, in my opinion, some of the best modern lyricists in metal, and certainly some of the best ever, in any genre.
Melody/Riff || 5/5
If you like metal, and you hear that main riff for the first time, you are shaken from your hinges. It is perfection. Urgent, aggressive, intense.
Drums & Percussion || 4/5
Adam Savage is a tasteful drummer. His style is really unique. When I hear his playing, it just stands out in the most unusual way. I get a lot of punk hardcore influence, and also some metalcore influences, in a blend that well and truly screams While She Sleeps. Lots of single pedal work, complemented with tasteful double kick patterns. His choice of switching back and forth between a hardcore sound, exceptional fills and creative uses of space in the music, is a cornerstone of what elevates this band to cult status, in my opinion.
Feel || 5/5
This song makes you want to rip the steering wheel off your car. I is the kind of music that makes you feel like quitting your day job and pursuing your dreams But doing it with a massive ‘fuck you’ attitude. It a song that makes you want to change the world.
Emotional epicness || 5/5
This song screams collective pain. Existential anxiety. It is aggressive, it is intense it is painful, but not sad. It is quintessentially, metal. There are only a handful of bands that have ever elicited this type of emotional intensity from me, without the sadness.
Pantera, Slipknot, Metallica, and While She Sleeps come to mind.
About these reviews
These reviews focus on a few songs from my Spotify/iTunes collection, songs of my own choice, to review according to the principles discussed in this article.
