There Were Wires

Restraining the cacophony and chaos of their previous work, There Were Wires smooth their spastic jagged edges into a musical force that’s more repetitive, cycling and battering. Somnambulists sees There Were Wires also adding more restrained musical moments of melody, psychedelic heaviness and dynamic peaks and lulls into their aggressive rampages while maintaining their metallic volatility. One can easily detect the influential ebb and flow of Neurosis (and, also, by extension, Isis and Old Man Gloom) and the more cycling, structured abuse of Kiss It Goodbye, and at their most dissonant, There Were Wires can recall the violent discordant spasms of Voivod and at their most serene the psychedelic drifting of Kyuss. And an almost Southern doom oppression can be heard creeping in on the monumental closing track "Gasp.” While some may question the musical evolution displayed by There Were Wires and Somnambulists, There Were Wires execute this conversion with unquestionable feeling and confidence. And while they may get hit hard for the sin of progression, Somnambulists is a heavier, and better, album than any other TWW offering.