In the summer of 2023, Dutch metal band Rise of The Wood released the ‘Sleep’ EP, an excellent three tracker that signified their long overdue return, but also a rebirth. Their first new music in six years, ‘Sleep’ was also the first Rise release to feature vocalist Leo Gstrein. His confident tones immediately outshone any of the work on the band’s 2017 debut and the music sounded much better all round. This suggested that band’s decision to take time out to regroup had been more than beneficial.
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RISE OF THE WOOD – Sleep EP
Rise of The Wood’s debut album – 2017’s ‘First Seed’ – shared some impressively fuzzy sounding riffs, capturing an overall sound that mixed stoner rock with a few good old rock ‘n’ roll thrills, but despite a huge amount of chutzpah, never really felt like essential listening. It was a record with some great ingredients and a great energy, but compared to similar fare from other bands, it lacked a little something in the songwriting department, and was sometimes blighted by a shouty vocal that didn’t always suit the music in hand. Taken on its own merits, though, it wasn’t without charm: ‘Hyperspeed’ played like a superb tribute to peak Corrosion of Conformity; ‘Faded Horizon’ captured the darkness of Alice In Chains tunes like ‘Nutshell’ very well, and ‘Hell Yeah’ fused stoner metal elements with a groove laden approach that showed how easily the band could handle a great riff. It was a flawed record, yes, but not without entertainment value.