Dead Sleep – Naked Tyrant

Dead Sleep

‘Naked Tyrant’

Transubstans Records

Thrash Metal

FFO: Destruction, Kreator, Nervosa, Sodom, Venom

Think of thrash countries and immediately what comes to mind are generally the USA and Germany, but recently Sweden’s Dead Sleep have been making a name for themselves on the back of their 2018 debut album ‘In the Belly of the Beast’. Nearly two years on from that, Dead Sleep have launched another attack with the release of their sophomore album ‘Naked Tyrant’.

                What the listener gets with ‘Naked Tyrant’ is Dead Sleep once again firing on all cylinders with an excellent mix of thrash metal with punk overtones. There are two main reasons why this occurs; firstly are vocals of Anna Wagner, Wagner bites hard with a venomous snarl that would trounce any man in her position as she prowls the mix with a rasp that invokes Cronos, Mille Petrozza, Tom Angelripper or even Diva Satanica before Nervosa started overly using death style growls. Secondly, there are some excellent twin guitar solos here from Johan Salo and Marcus Bader, particularly during ‘Welcome to Hell’, even if the melodies used during ‘Wages of War’ is basically ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’. Furthermore, ‘Naked Tyrant’ keeps in line with thrash’s political ethos and tracks such as ‘Mammon Wolves’, ‘Dredging the Gutter’ and ‘Death From Above’ are particularly memorable with their excellent chorus’.

                ‘Naked Tyrant’ proves that the underground thrash scene is alive and well and this album shows that Dead Sleep are capable of rising to the top.

Adam McCann