London's Alt/Heavy Grunge Rock trio ALICEISSLEEPING presents their debut album: Completely Fine, a super catchy yet heavy rock juggernaut of a first album. The band - fronted by charismatic bassist & vocalist Alice (formerly MAB) is one of these cool discoveries!
Outsiders starts shortly before the song starts: you hear them entering the studio, closing a door and getting ready. The song starts like a bluesy rocker with the raw voice of Alice Dionis. There is rebellion and melancholy in it. I hear that it might be a good one to perform on stage (I adore the roaring guitar). At some point I hear an Adrien Belew effect in the guitar too. It song that moves in waves: from stormy to sleepy and lazy (back and forth). We also hear the complete pallet of vocal possibilities: from screaming to whispering! Felix sound like a mix between No Doubt and Hole (with live drums and a roaring guitar). The sound is once again very rich! I like the variation in this song (and it starts already to feel like their trademark)! Over And Over Again sounds like the warming for a symphonic gig, but that’s not it. In this one you hear clearly the English accent of Alice. Once the song is at full speed it gets a catchy phase. It’s one of my favourite tracks of the album! Twilight sounds like sung by two different personalities! The roaring/hoovering guitar sound remind me a bit of TheJesus and Merry Chain. Her voice also sounds a bit more like Isabelle’s (The Breath Of Life). Scary Mary sounds like a smoked out rocker. I think in the year 2020 we have a lot of scary Mary’s as there is a lot to be afraid of in such a bad year! I can feel the sweat breaking out. Alien is how we look at each other with our masks on and our fear for the other one: fear of getting infected and die. COIVD-19 has made aliens of some of us and isolated the others. Off course there are some non-believers and they are the aliens for the others. In the end we all become aliens for each other! It’s a good rocker, but somehow too short (but hey that is always a good sign). Not Cool might be about how you feel during lockdown and only have the world wide web to reach out. The vocals change a lot: from screaming to girly whispering. The music can be described as hard rock (but has some softer moments). The chorus is almost catchy. I like this one a lot! Negotiating Sex as a spooky touch and sounds way more dangerous as expected from the title. I frankly was expecting something erotic, but it’s more a harsh rocker. This band starts more and more to sound like an Estonian band I adore: Sibyl Vane! Last one is called Lost Girls and starts like a live track with an acoustic guitar who starts it. Slowly the song changes into a rocker. I hear a small wall of sound at some moments. The song sounds pretty complicated with lots of twists (just like the lyrics). I expected a big blow in the end but it’s more like a short and soft scream.
Well, they didn’t disappoint me! I love the variation and the vocals. The global sound is really good. I’m already looking forward to hear their second album and maybe see them one day on stage!
