Avec « Grands maux, grands remèdes – Partie 1 »,
Waking The Sleeping Bear has reached a new level and established itself as a new voice in modern French-language metal.
Heirs to the unifying power of Mass Hysteria, the urban energy of Landmvrks, and the pen of Sidilarsen, the quartet now fully embraces its own identity: hybrid and powerful, at the crossroads between unapologetic 90s nu-metal inspirations and songwriting coupled with resolutely modern production.
This chapter, mixed by Fred Duquesne (Mass Hysteria, Ultra Vomit…) and mastered by Thibault Chaumont (Shaârghot, Birds in Row, Igorrr), heralds the beginning of a new era for the combo, which deploys a particularly wide sound palette here: crushing riffs, rap phrasing, synthetic layers… even brass instruments make an appearance!
The seven tracks skillfully oscillate between breathing space and tension, violence and melody, while always keeping the groove and power in their sights. Sung entirely in French, this new opus, like its predecessors, gives pride of place to the lyrics. With a sure sense of phrasing, the EP deploys, in both form and content, concerns and anger that are strikingly topical and urgent.
“Grands maux, grands remèdes – Partie 1” is not just a musical and stylistic exercise, it is also a manifesto. Loss of bearings, media and political excesses, digital alienation, the need for collective awareness in the face of fake news and fascism… These are just some of the topics that drive the project through a wide range of tones and registers. With this project, WTSB proves that it is possible to combine rage with lucidity and brutality with emotion, while remaining at the service of inventive and innovative musicality.
A short but dense, committed, and open opus that confirms that French metal still has things to say (and to say loudly, preferably).
WAKING THE SLEEPING BEAR puts on a very intense and energetic live show! If you would like to book the band for your venue or festival, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
Waking The Sleeping Bear is an ever-changing entity. Formed in 2011 in a high school in Dole (Franche-Comté) as a cover band, the project went through multiple lineups and names before settling on its current lineup in 2017. With this formula, there is only one leitmotif: to play innovative, uncompromising metal, with the sole constraint of having no constraints. From there, WTSB offers a jumbled mix of influences that is often unpredictable but always consistent in its uncompromising approach and quest for power in concert.
Waking The Sleeping Bear is about “waking up the sleeping bear.”
The bear represents quiet strength, gentleness that conceals rage, serenity in overwhelming power. Calm and storm combined. Awakening is awareness, a jolt. Behind the clever rhyme lies political commitment, punk energy spitting in the face of a decaying world. This boiling anger that sees everything we have allowed to happen at the dawn of the 22nd century and is saddened to see that the worst of history is still repeating itself. The recipe adapts and distorts, maturing over time, but always rests on three pillars: finely crafted French lyrics, modern metal tinged with urban music, and finally, an omnipresent machine that crushes with its electronic heaviness as much as it calls you to dance, to pound the ground…
After a first EP in 2018 and an album in 2021, Waking The Sleeping Bear is preparing a grand comeback with “Grands maux, grands remèdes – Partie 1,” an EP that marks a new chapter for the band. With a richer, more mature sound, featuring polished and powerful tones, this new opus, mixed by Fred Duquesne (Mass Hysteria, Ultra Vomit) and mastered by Thibault Chaumont (Igorrr, Carpenter Brut, Birds in Row, Shaârghot…), is as sharp as a blade and tailor-made for live performances. There is no doubt that it will find its audience as the sonic experiments of these four lads begin to make their mark on the French alternative scene.
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