A Bit Of A Party

It's good it's good,” Taylor enthuses, the band only weeks out from releasing their resounding full-length debut. “At times I'm feeling a bit of pressure though. Don't get me wrong, we're absolutely loving it, we can't believe how it's been the last couple of years – it's been mental. We're not really feeling the pressure from the release of the album [though], we're more feeling the pressure from just hammering it home and delivering every night. But we've done that up until this point, so we'll just do what we always do.”

In a short few years, British quintet While She Sleeps have made some resolute steps towards the top of the of the metalcore pile, further helped along in recent months thanks to a dominant performance at the Download Festival and a Best Newcomer gong at The Kerrang! Awards. The band are now ready to push even harder, unleashing This Is The Six. Recorded with Carl Bown (Fightstar, Machine Head), the record is an utterly explosive listen, amalgamating traditional metal with post-hardcore while balancing instrumental polish with ferocious vocal intensity, all to devastating effect. “We were happy just to be going into a studio after recording The North Stands For Nothing in a cold barn,” he levels, recalling their 2010 eight-track EP. “We were just excited to be going into that professional environment, so it's worked out really good. We've built a relationship with Bown, we loved working with him, he's a real good guy and I think he's made our album sound epic.”

Another inviting element throughout the 12-track release is the gang vocals, pack choruses that are just waiting to fill a room. It fills the music with a sense of unity without once releasing the pressure valve. “I was discussing this with someone else the other week,” Taylor recalls, “about how we differ from genres. I've been into a lot of hardcore over the years and a lot of metal and stuff, and I think that people [who are] into metal do not mind cracking in a beautiful sounding chorus, where a lot of the true hardcore fans, they'd hate hearing a chorus.

“I think we're a positive mental attitude sort of band, we've got a lot of PMA going on as well as a lot of negativity; we always try and write pretty true to ourselves, what we see and what we hear, and I think we like to keep them choruses in because it is uplifting and it is something that makes you feel good, and we don't want to lose that from our music, although we want to be a heavy band as well.”

While She Sleeps have written an album that is as immediate, consistent and consuming as anything you're likely to hear in the heavy realm this year. Yet you wouldn't know it by talking to Taylor. Making a cup of tea on an English summer morning, the singer isn't going to tell you how great the new album sounds. He just urges interested ears to get out to the shows, say hello and make an educated decision.

“It's incredible that this has all happened anyway,” he admits. “That someone has got a hold of our music all that way, we never saw that happen really. So that's incredible, and obviously if we have got a few fans out there on the tour it will make it far more enjoyable for us. So if there is anyone out there I hope they make themselves known. And even if you don't know us get along to the show and we'll have a bit of a party.”