Album Review: Snooze – “I Know How You Will Die” (Mathrock)

Written by Jangel

If a band was called Snooze, what would you expect them to sound like? Ambient? Smooth indie rock? Lo-fi beats to chill and snooze to? I certainly wouldn’t expect anything remotely heavy or high energy and yet, here we are to talk about such a mis-monikered musical outfit and their latest album, I Know How You Will Die.

If you’re unaware, Snooze is a self-described “happy, heavy mathrock band” from Chicago consisting of Logan Voss on guitar/vocals, Demetri Wolfe on bass, Michael Stover on guitar/vocals, and Alex Kennedy on drums. “Happy heavy” is an apt title since they play exuberant, often uplifting songs on 7-string guitars and they ain’t afraid to bust out the double kick pedal. I first became aware of Snooze in 2019 after falling in love with their album from that year, Familiaris. And I do mean I fell in love. I played it constantly. I laughed, I cried, I had feelings that music hadn’t given me since I was 15. Familiaris is a concept record about the life of a family dog told from the dog’s perspective. It sounds cheeky and cute and then you listen to it while thinking about all the dogs and small, helpless things in your life and all of a sudden you’re crying on the train on your way to work. 

After Familiaris, Snooze went through a period of transition punctuated by the death of their longtime bassist Cameron Grom. From what I know about the band, Grom was not only integral to the music but also shared a deep friendship with the other members. They followed up Familiaris with 2020’s Still, which served as a memorial for Grom and saw the band adopt a more subdued, muted tone for their music. One might call that record djenty as well, which only makes sense considering Anup Sastry was the session drummer. Still would foreshadow some of the new and experimental elements present on this latest effort.

But enough about their previous work. We’re here to discuss Snooze’s latest album, I Know How You Will Die. This is definitely the most maximalist release in the band’s catalog. They’ve expanded the core elements of their sound while adding more textures and styles, so let me expand on that a bit.

Snooze’s core sound consists of their signature happy heavy riffs, often using mathy rhythmic devices, paired with Logan Voss’ phenomenal voice, which he will densely layer using close voiced, extended harmony. Anyone who’s familiar with their work will recognize these aspects. Many of the riffs are heavier and moshier this time around, as demonstrated on tracks like “Overheard from the Void” and “I Listened”. Voss has added screaming to his vocal techniques on this record which, further accenting the aforementioned heaviness. He also explores his voice through the use of his low register. You can hear him and his newfound baritone stylings on “On a Precipice” and the second half of “Contingent”.

One new texture that jumps out from the first track is the inclusion of a choir. I Know How You Will Die opens with an intro track featuring the choir and a small orchestra. The lead single “Without” sees the choir integrated with the core heavy mathrock sound of Snooze to quite great effect and is a big reason why this track is quickly becoming my fave of the band’s. (Sidenote: “Without” appears to be about a dream that Voss had about former bassist Cameron Grom.) Snooze also borrows tropes from the metal world. New drummer Alex Kennedy throws down on some blast beats in sections inspired by atmospheric black metal such as the opening of “Harked”. Other sections see a bigger focus on atmosphere and texture in the instrumental parts such as the section about halfway through “On a Precipice”. A previous version of Snooze might default to layering spunky, rhythmic bits in that section but their choices this time around give a sense of grandiosity. 

As glorious as I Know How You Will Die is, I do have a couple criticisms. First, the two opening tracks meander too much. We get the choral/orchestral intro track I mentioned earlier, then the second track, “Expectation”, consists of a moody acoustic number that transitions to a heavy hitting chorus before an extended vamp on a riff by the choir. “Expectation” doesn’t come off as a fully cohesive song and a full seven minutes go by before we get a track that feels like the first real Snooze song on the record. And if I’m being really picky, that third track feels a little disjointed itself. “Without”, the fourth track, is the first song on the record with the super exuberant sound that I associate so much with this band. If I had been in the room with them I would’ve said the first two tracks need trimming and/or some of their parts should go elsewhere on the album. My second criticism is something I’m going to call Chekhov’s choir. Opening the record and playing a prominent role on three of the first four tracks, the choir disappears for the rest of the album. My guess is this decision was driven by schedule and budget constraints but, in my humble opinion, if you feature a choir so prominently in the first third of a record you damn well better shoot someone with it towards the end. 

THE BOTTOM LINE

I can’t stress how much I already love this record. “Without” and “On a Superposition” are already my fave Snooze tracks. I love the darker, heavier sounds they utilize. I love that the unbridled exuberance from Familiaris is back. I love the continuation of experimentation and exploration that is a hallmark of Still. This is quite the statement from the band. I look forward to deepening my relationship with this record and it excites me for what’s next from Snooze.