Hundred Year Old Man – Sleep in Light (Recommendation)

Space has always been fascinating. Countless Sci-Fi-(Horror-)movies deal with it (“In space no one can hear you scream”, anybody), scientist have been working on leaving this planet and laying another planet to waste and of course, a lot of bands draw inspiration from it. Hundred Year Old Man also drew inspiration from it. The album title derives from the Sci-Fi-Series Babylon 5.

Hundred Year Old Man return after the tragic loss of their guitarist Owen Pegg to honor his legacy. This is an album that dwells around the themes of isolation, loss, life, love and everything in between.

If we stay in space metaphorically, this album is like floating through the galaxy in a heavy vessel, passing otherworldly planets, exploding stars and crashing through numerous asteroid fields. You’ll need time on this trip but you’ll also be rewarded with the beauty and catharsis you’ll experience along the way.

This album takes its time. As mentioned at the beginning, Sleep in Light is a heavy vessel. This album reminds me of the Post-Metal greats The Ocean around their Precambrian-Phase. Each track is a journey. The triplet “A New Terror“, “I Caught a Glimpse of Myself on Fire” and the closing “Livyatan” are worth being the album alone. It takes a lot of musical craftsmanship to create long songs without them being boring or them just being long for the sake of being long.

What is really outstanding here are the atmosphere and the sound / production. Sleep in Light feels like watching nature unfold. You lose your sense of time and get lost in the spectacle and what a great sounding spectacle this is. The guitars stack massive riffs over riffs while creating an almost tranquil atmosphere.

This is an album any fan of Post-Metal should give a listen. Sleep in the light of this great album while listening to Sleep in Light.