Reviews

Prior to listening to this I’d come up with a treasure trove of sleep related
puns to use in the review. “It barely sounds like the drummer’s awake,” “an
insomniac’s wet dream” etc, that I planned to use if the disc
sucked. Unfortunately for my list of lame jokes, Believe What We Tell You
is a catchy, intricately assembled melding of rock and hardcore, almost like a
slightly heavier Coheed and Cambira. 
I was not really a fan of
Skycamefalling, the band of 3/4 of The Sleeping were in prior to forming, and
much to my enjoyment, this is very different. The Sleeping’s debut retains
the trademark sound of the Long Island scene which spawned them as well as other
luminaries such as Taking Back Sunday and From Autumn to Ashes, but Believe What
We Tell You is decidedly different. Check out The Big Breakdown-Day 1 for some
great progressive rock; catchy, funny, and great lyrics. TBBD1’s “girls are
evil’ message is countered (almost refuted) by the titular chanting (and then
girl screaming) of If Your Heart Was Broken…You Would Be Dead. All in all a very
mature album, varied and interesting, hitting every genre from prog rock to
hardcore, back to a pop sound and then off the wall to ambient party sounds with
layered ghostly vocals.  It’s fucking good.  Believe what I tell you.