Seven Sisters of Sleep - Pissdrinker 7"

I thought about doing a complete Integrity month this month, and with one of my latest arrivals it would have possible. So far it pretty much has been (even Vermapyre is still pretty related), but here is something a bit different but equally as exciting - a new 7" from Seven Sisters of Sleep. This one has been on the cards for a while now, and it is great to see it has finally seen the light of day.

This release has been handled by Vedavu records, so those in the know will understand how awesome ordering something from them is. They always do a superb job with packaging, and this time is no exception. Each record comes in it's own letter pressed 'origato' pack complete with it's own large OBI strip. The photo makes it a little hard to see, but you can just make out the insane level of detail that is going on with thr front cover.

This black outer case unfolds at the back to reveal a white inner cover with some more insanely detailed artwork.

It then turns out this inner cover is a double lyric sheet for the title track. Well at least from what I am able to make out anyway, the font has been incredibly stretched as on the OBI so it is hard to make out. Perhaps I can try altering the image to make it a bit more readable.

The 7" contains two new tracks, 'Ssoommaa' and "Pissdrinker". The first is something very different for SSOS, a slow distorted spoken word track featuring the words of Soma Shaman Hawk discussing Amanita muscaria mushrooms. As if mimicking the psychoactive effects of the mushrooms, the track leaves you feeling a bit disoriented. That then leads straight into the blistering assault of "Pissdrinker", a track with a sound much more common to the SSOS tool-belt. This was recorded along with the tracks from the split with Children of God, although at times has much more strained vocals and sounds slightly different to the tracks of that era.

Unlike most 7"s, this one is only one-sided and is parallel grooved, meaning each track runs in a parallel spiral to one another. It's a neat trick, but does mean it is a guessing game when it comes to play a track.

Overall 100 copies of this were pressed, which are now all sold out. On the front of the sleeve is a stamp noting this is the first edition, perhaps there will be more to come eventually?

Along with all this were a few of the standard Vedavu cards and some other LUXURY items. It is a great package, thanks once again Vedavu.

Seven Sisters of Sleep / Shaman's Owl split 10"

One band that seems to be very busy as of late is Seven Sisters of Sleep. It seems like only a wee while ago that Opium Morals was released, and they have already had two splits out since then. One of those was the Record Store Day release with Ilsa, the other is this split with Shaman's Owl. And if that wasn't enough, they have been nothing short of gold.

This split is released on the somewhat uncommon 10" format. I know this is a somewhat unpopular format, but I quite like it. It's always nice to get somethinga bit different.

The whole thing has a gold and blue theme that has turned out great. Quite fittingly, the colored versions of the vinyl were also blue and gold. From memory these were limited to 200 and 300 respectively. I opted for the gold,which also came with a splash of black.

I placed my order as soon as the pre orders came out,so I was lucky enough to get some extras inside my package. The first is this set of three patches. The top is for the label that released the record, Feast of Tentacles. This is also the first time I have seen their logo, which is actually hard to see in this photo. Underneath is one for SSOS and Shaman's Owl.

The next is this amazing letter pressed insert. Again the same colour theme has been carried out, with gold writing over a blue card.

Musically this thing is a beast too. It marks my introduction to Shaman's Owl, which were actually pretty good. SSOS really stole the show though with their new track "Bastard Son". It is the band's first lengthy track, reaching just under 10 and a half minutes. The band seem to be experimenting with a few different styles in here, and it really works out great. Although it is their longest song, there is not a second that feels dragged on.

ILSA / SSOS split 7"

Alongside the latest Ides of Gemini EP, this was another Record Store Day release that I was very excited about. This was released by A389 and was sold solely at various record stores around the world. Unfortunately my local record store wouldn't be getting any copies for sale, so I had to rely on other methods to get my hands on this. Ebay turned out to be the place to go, with several copies up for sale by various flippers. Most were in the higher price range that you would expect from these people, but one copy was still at a reasonable price with a buy now so I did not hesitate.

The split features two new tracks; one from each band. Interestingly, both are cover songs, with Seven Sisters of Sleep covering "Messiah" by Hellhammer and Ilsa covering IVth Crusade by Bolt Thrower. Both are excellent cover versions of already great songs, but I think the SSOS track just has a very slight edge over the Ilsa one.

The record is on red vinyl, and is limited to 666 copies. Shortly after RSD, A389 did also release a glow in the dark version for mailorder which would have been cool to get my hands on too. I'm pretty sure that was just limited to 1000 copies and had already sold out by the time I found out about it.

The rest of the packaging is up to the usual A389 standard, with awesome artwork designed by Szymon Siech, that draws on various 70s horror films.The inside of the cover also draws on the same influences.

As an extra bonus the record also includes an incredibly massive "movie" poster of the cover artwork.

The entire split is available to stream online just in case you missed out on getting your copy.

Seven Sisters of Sleep - Opium Morals 12"

This is a record I have been looking forward to for quite a while now. Ever since their first self titled album, I have been a huge fan of this band and when I heard a new LP would be being released I was very excited. In some ways I wondered if it were possible to top their first efforts, it was really that good. But they have certainly done it with Opium Morals, it has been on very high rotation since it arrived.

What I really appreciate about this album is the level of progression seen since their first album. While that was still amazing, I feel it was much more one-track minded than the work present on this LP. The band have experimented with quite a few different elements and have managed to pull them off brilliantly across all 10 tracks.

As if the music couldn't stand up by itself, the record comes housed in this wicked gatefold sleeve. Mike Kendrick has done a magnificent job with the artwork design, which really doesn't look as good in my photos as it does right in front of your eyes. Inside the sleeve are the lyrics to the first 9 tracks, with simply the words "lyrics withheld" for the last track, "Part 2".

This is available as a CD and vinyl, but I really had to opt for the vinyl. My memory is really not serving me well, but I think there were three versions of this pressed; a regular black and a limited red and blue. I'm gonna say the colour variants are limited to 200, someone correct me if I'm wrong. I decided to pick up a blue version simply because I thought it would look the best out of the two colour options. I haven't seen what the red looks like, but I am very happy with how this looks.

The whole record is also available to stream completely free thanks to A389s bandcamp page, so if you haven't got your hands on this yet listen up.

SSOS have been pretty recently as of late. Apart from this LP, they have since released a split with Ilsa for record store day (which will be coming up soon..). There is also talk of a new 7" coming out on Vedavu records, which you know will be fantastic.

Seven Sisters of Sleep - S/T 7"/CD

I know I tend to say something like this a lot, but I have definitely been meaning to post about this record for some time now. So why haven't I? Well, I'm rather strapped for time these days and providing decent photos seems to take a fair amount of time sometimes. For whatever reason, this proved particularly challenging for this record. No matter what I tried, the photos seemed to come out over-exposed. Although, I'm not exactly a camera-wizz so perhaps I'm not doing all that I can to good good quality photos.

Anyway, here we have the latest release from the almighty Seven Sisters of Sleep. This is incredibly selfish of me, but these guys just don't put out enough material. If I had my way there'd already be a plethora of tracks out there to listen to. The A389 sampler's opening track provided a taste of things to come from this record, and needless to say I was very excited for when it was released.

This is quite a special package. Not only is there a 7" with three whole new tracks, but also a CD containing the new tracks, the songs from the split with Children of God and four new videos. Three of these are music videos for the split, and the fourth video is a remix of "The Devil's Rain". For those who've never heard of this film before, it was a horror movie from 1975. Obviously the whole movie isn't included, but there's a good 20 minutes of video to watch. The three new awesome songs are played in certain parts as well, so it's definitely interesting to watch.

Opposite the CD we have the lyrics to the three tracks. They are pretty short, but don't let that fool you. They still certainly pack a mighty punch.

I was very keen to hand my hands on this EP, so pretty much ordered it the day it was released. Luckily that meant I was able to get my hands on the red version, which I think is limited to 200 copies (That sounds right anyway). The photos really haven't turned out as I'd hoped, this really doesn't do justice to the true record. In reality it is a much deeper red, whereas it appears more pink just below. What has come out fine though is that awesome patch. Getting things like this is really one of the best parts of releases by A389.

Squeezed inside the gatefold cover is this massive poster of the artwork. While I love this poster, it was one of the main reasons preventing me from writing this post. I finally decided to settle on these ones below, they aren't great but they'll do. On the bottom I've included the record for size comparison.

So there we have it, the latest effort from SSOS. It's certainly a fantastic 7", and copies are still just about available for you to buy yourself. I have a feeling they may be putting out something soon on Vedavu records, so you know straight away how awesome that is going to be. Keep your eyes peeled. 

Children Of God / Seven Sisters of Sleep split 12"

I think I mentioned this in the post about "To Die For", but I'll say it again. I originally ordered this when it was first released on A389, amongst other things. When the package arrived I was disappointed to see that this almighty split was not there. Instead was my third copy of "To Die For". Dom was very apologetic and promised to send me a replacement as soon as he could. Unluckily for me, Pulling Teeth were then busy with their Europe tour. Then there was Christmas, so I didn't see anything of this record for a long time. Although one day, a few weeks ago, I came home to find this sitting on my bed staring at me.

It may have taken a while to arrive, but it was certainly worth the wait. This split is absolutely epic. Seven Sisters of Sleep are back, bringing their take on sludge infused hardcore to a whole new level. Children of God bring their trademark style chaotic ridiculousness, but also slow things down for one of the tracks, which really shows off the bands talent. 

The artwork here is really quite menacing, it seems to be a rather distressed looking individual preparing for surgery. 

As a bonus, the dust sleeve and (what would be) insert have been fused into this great hybrid. The surgical artwork has been continued on the front, while the lyrics have been printed on the back.

Only a plain black version of this was pressed, and is limited to 1000 copies ever. The black really keeps in with the rest of the packaging, so I'm pleased other colours weren't produced. 

The COG side is up streaming on their bandcamp, I urge you to check it out.