Bay-Area-based film buffs Sleepbomb begin bringing new sounds to their cinematic and cinema-induced escapisms. But beware – this singular series of songs is surely not a list of beloved b-sides as it follows Sleepbomb‘s unique line of suspense – scoring alternative soundtracks creating new atmospheres for awesome movies. This time: George A. Romero‘s The Night of the Living Dead.</b>

So, enough now of these unimportant assonances and alliterations (shit that was another one, sorry!) - let’s cut straight to the chase. Our friends in Sleepbomb have just dropped their next album via Consouling Sounds and Koolarrow Records; in full it’s called The Sleeping Dead: Excerpts from an Alternative Score for George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” and this record is surely different from their previous works because it is much more Psychedelic and less Post-Metal. There are surely some quiet-vs-loud-moments to be found within these 65 minutes, but it’s less eruptive and much moodier.

One key element to understanding the record are surely the vocal harmonies delivered by Claire Hamard who also contributes the keyboard elements. When the former record The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was much more centered on the guys in the band, the riffs, the drums, then this record is much more based on her work on the keys, which sometimes sound like a theremin, sometimes like an ominous foreshadowing of things to come. The latter idea, the foreshadowing becomes apparent when looking at the tracklist of the record because you get three songs in two different versions each, once a regular version and once as a ”Film Version”. These versions are a little bit more drawn out and a little longer, usually roughly two minutes longer.

Listening to ”The Cemetery Song” makes it clear that here the atmosphere is much more important and the Psychedelic track the listeners are being taken on. Even when the track goes through some strong and powerful Post-Metal adjacent parts towards the end the idea is never to overpower the movie but rather to underline its effects on the audience. Scoring this classic with a harsh riff-ladden soundtrack would diminish the importance of the picture, of the image, for Romero’s masterpiece. Take the ending of ”It was a Good Plan” exemplifies this as well – the track always retains a certain repetitiveness that turns to Heavy Psych. When the next track, ”The Basement is the Safest Place” opens with a wonderfully melancholic, slowly revolving guitar line and then adds Rachel’s wordless but strong enchanting vocal melodies then one cannot have the impression of hearing a Pigs 7x version of a Laurel Canyon soundtrack.

The idea of scoring a movie is nothing new, also not in the Sleepbomb world, but the way they do it here on The Sleeping Dead underlines something: The four-piece really knows how to create a mood that supports the movie. I would love to see them score a new movie next, so if there is anybody out there who would them to do something like that – give them a ring or us, we will get you in touch! You will not regret it!