When you think a band who talks about the New World Order, I just imagine something like Black Metal or something similar. And I knew they're a Progressive/Sludge Metal band; I was a bit afraid to not like their sound. The band I'm talking about is VOID OF SLEEP. They're an Italian band formed in 2010 and "New World Order" is their second full-length released in October, 16^th by Aural Music.

The artwork is controversy, but the entire theme is like the cover. It's a beautiful work and fits with the lyrics they're talking about.

The first song "The Devil's Conjuration" had a dark atmosphere and an excellent instrumental, more interesting than Burdo's voice. And the instrumental emends with the "Hidden Revelations" intro. It's a typical Progressive Metal song - a lot of break tempos in drums and bass - and virtuous guitars all the time. In this song, Burdo's voice fit's better to the song asked. The bass was too evident here and hid the vocals. Mixing clean and harsh vocals, the song gets more and more interesting and the instrumental are impeccable. The songs in most part, they're more than four minutes, time sufficient to develop a good Progressive. I could feel influences in bands like OPETH - the new years -, DGM and similar. The third song, "Slaves Shall Serve", keeps with the same dark atmosphere with an incredible instrumental. I just don't know why they put the bass too evident. If they bring more strength to the sound, you can do using a balanced kitchen.

The next song - "Order Ab Chao" - maintains the same things in the early songs. "Lords of Conspiracy" is just a simple intro between the songs and starts the self-titled song "New World Order", beginning with a soft atmosphere and makes you travel in their instrumental and Burdo's voice is just a little piece that makes the song cooler than it is. And the last, with more than fourteen minutes, is "Ending Theme" with fantastic break tempos and the instigating and dark atmospheres and they can be epic, simultaneously. The instrumental and the vocals are simply captivating, and you can easily listen it without to get boring. I can choose this song as the highlight from them.

I thought I was judging a Stoner band with influences in Progressive and I started to be bored. But they could change my mind in some minutes as I listened to "New World Order". The old, typical in bands like them, is evident in their sound. But doesn't mean they make restricted or exceeded sound; unlike the vast bands they play this style, they make a timeless sound, and obviously progressive in the literal sense of the word. For my part, I can only thank to the band to open my mind and just give them a good note from their album.<