The good doctor, Seuss, that is, also considered the burden of antlers. In his signature rhyming voice, Dr. Seuss tells the story of a boy imagining himself with “deer horns.” He could wear more hats! He could hang school supplies from them! He’d be the star of the football team! Yet their burdensome nature soon became apparent. With unwieldy antlers, he could no longer ride the bus, and his mom couldn’t possibly let someone with deer horns live in her impeccably clean house. In the end, he learned to accept his own body for what it was.1 Portland, Oregon’s Sea Sleeper tell their own tale of a Burden of Antlers, and they convey their message in just about an anti-Seussian a way as possible. No easy morals or rhythmic storytelling here. Gardenstale found their debut, Nostophobia, underwhelming, with its laughable lyrics and lack of memorable hooks. Yet, the debut received high year-end accolades elsewhere and was a top seller on Bandcamp in 2021. Burden of Antlers sees a honing of their “mileage may vary” approach to songcrafting, for better or worse.
In contrast to the pleasing cadence of Dr. Seuss, Sea Sleeper play an impenetrably dense, harsh brand of progressive death metal. Zoom in from the forest to the trees and you’ll hear some psychedelic influences from Mastodon as well as Gojira-style harmonics and riffs. Distortion adds layers of density, creating a maelstrom of noise early on opener “Machines of the Bombing Runs.” Their goal, it seems to me at least, is to keep listeners uncomfortable and off-guard from start to finish, and they accomplish this with frequent tonal and tempo shifts, rarely allowing musical passages to develop into anything resembling melodicism. The lengthy “Manifestor” contains many such shifts. This song mixes high energy blast beats, melodic riffs, discordant riffs, a great bass bit, an awesome solo, and significant passages where the tempo slows to allow for some grungy cleans that are kind of catchy but also kind of bad. It’s an approach that’ll leave you breathless trying to figure out whether you like it or not.
Much as Sea Sleeper love the arrhythmic approach, they do reveal a knack for some melodic death, at least in small chunks. “Burden of Antlers” most memorably establishes these melodic hooks in a very cool opener and even has a catchy chorus, sung in Jesse Cooley’s warbly, off-key cleans. “They’ll Miss You” displays some early Mastodon-style riffs, and there are more sightings of melody later on “Abysmal Trench.” Yet these melodies disappear into a morass of noise before they have time to properly develop and worm their way into your brain. They’re just one ingredient among countless others in Sea Sleeper’s varied guitar diet. Where the melodic riffs quickly fade away, Sea Sleeper has no issue allowing slower segments with melodic cleans to linger. However, the enjoyment of these portions comes with an asterisk—Cooley’s off-pitch performance leaves one cringing rather than wanting to sing along.
Burden of Antlers utilizes harsh tones and loud production values to unnerve their listeners. Cooley growls in a pained rasp that’s discomforting, yet also admittedly effective. Combined with dissonant and constantly shifting riffs, Sea Sleeper nail a style of music that’s purposely meant to deliver pain rather than pleasure. Their quest to challenge is admirable, though I wish I had a better idea as to what, thematically, they’re attempting to accomplish. When the vocals are incomprehensible and the lyrics sheet is missing, it’s difficult to know exactly what I’m being made uncomfortable about. Yet the larger problem is the production, whose loudness negatively contributes to the cacophony. While the harshness delivers pain and discomfort in more interesting ways, the high volume is just unpleasant.
While I do tend to gravitate towards more melodic music, that’s not to say the dissonant stuff doesn’t work for me. Veilburner creates weird yet entertaining music, and this year’s Dysgnostic has made a strong impression. What these acts succeed at that Sea Sleeper misses is that they write focused, well-developed songs. It’s a frustration to hear the talent from these musicians marred by purposely obtuse music and poor production choices. Sprouting a pair of deer horns, for me, wouldn’t be a burden, but a boon so long as they protect my ears from the onslaught that is Burden of Antlers.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Released
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: September 18th, 2026
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