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If these guys lived in the 12th Century instead of the 21st, they might have been at the head of the line signing up for the Crusades. “Sleeping Giants’” Christianity comes from the, “better shape up or the Lord will smite you,” school of the religion. It’s a vision that makes those of other faiths, and even many Christians uncomfortable in its uncompromising attitude and warnings of death and destruction awaiting unbelievers. Between the audience-limiting lyrical content, a strange opening track, and just a bewildering array of styles attempted by the band – none done particularly convincingly – I was ready to deliver my first zero star review.   

But a funny thing happened – as I kept listening to “Dread Champions of the Last Days,” I started sympathizing with what “Sleeping Giants” were attempting. At its core, the band seems to be a hardcore outfit, with Thom Green’s main mode of delivery a raspy shout over grinding, repetitive, and mostly boring guitar riffs. But, as mentioned above, there’s a lot of variety on this disc, and some of the tracks work. The seventh track, “Covenant,” features a near-progressive metal groove that Dream Theater might have come up with in their sleep. Unfortunately, there’s nothing more to take the song to that next level, just Green bullying his way through what lyrically is all but a love song. The very next track, “Blame it on the Holy Rollers,” has the band messing around with Meshuggah-like tortured rhythms, and might be the best track on the album. Green joined on vocals by Brook Doom’s (“Impending Doom”) otherwordly growls.

Whatever works, though is undermined by the numerous tracks that misfire badly, starting with the opening track, “The Army of One.” A generic, somewhat heavy soundtrack is accentuated by vocalizations that put me in mind of zombie movie groaning, over which the message is delivered in spoken word style. It’s completely different from anything else on the disc, and gets the album off to a strange start.
 
The last three tracks on the CD also go off on a lonely tangent. This time, though, it’s a more welcome direction, in which songs are given time to breath (most of the first eleven track clock in at about 2 minutes), and the band abandons the heavy chugging guitars for a more melodic approach to back their worship lyrics. The martial-percussion backed, cleanly vocalized, “Oh Praise Him,” gives “Blame it on the Holy Rollers,” a run for its money as the best track on the disc.

Upon further review, there are redeeming features to “Dread Champions of the Last Days.” Not enough to really recommend the disc, mind you, and it’s not an album that will catch on with your average metalhead, but it isn’t all bad.