Could Have Moved Mountains

Posted by Nicholas Beckman in Music

The members of the band Sleeptaker released Could Have Moved Mountains Saturday Feb 28. Photo by: René Bjorheim

“It’s not really going to be a party,” Alex Monasterio added when discussing the details of the new album release show for his band Sleeptaker. Monasterio plays guitar alongside James Eric Martin, who serves as lead vocalist; Noah Anthony Trainor plays bass and Connor Mejias-Mariani is on drums. Their new album, Could have Moved Mountains, was recorded and mixed over the last two months and the band seems giddy to finally be playing again.

James Eric Martin is the lead singer of Sleeptaker. Photo by: René Bjorheim

Sleeptaker’s newest album seeks to bridge the gap between self-described metal-heads and those who are just looking for a new genre to listen to. Monasterio and Trainor described their music as math metalcore. “The whole record is about dying and living a basically unfulfilled life,” Trainor said.

Alex Monasterio on guitar. Photo by: René Bjorheim

Monasterio added that a lot of the bands “friends don’t listen to metal, but since they’ve hung around while we were making this album, I’d like to think we’ve kind of opened them up to it.”

Sleeptaker has performed at various metal-friendly Santa Fe venues including Warehouse 21, the “Dave Cave,” The Locker Room and Skylight. Their favorite venue, however, is Monasterio’s own place of residency, which they’ve dubbed “The Pigpitt.” Jackalope Magazine’s Nick Martinez previously experienced/reported on the sweat-drenched humidor that is The PigPitt.

The album is currently available for purchase on iTunes, Spotify, and Rahpsody as well as the band’s Bandcamp profile. Sleeptaker also has raffle to give away a free copy of the album for participants who “like” their Facebook page.

The crew expressed interest in recording another album, but currently their focus is playing shows.

“We’ve been talking about some ideas for some other ones,” said Trainor, careful not to reveal too much information.

Noah Anthony Trainor rocking out on his bass. Photo by: René Bjorheim

“I think mainly the plan is to sit on this album until summer when we all have a little more time to, like, not go insane,” explained Monasterio who did the majority of the sound mixing/tracking for their album.

Could Have Moved Mountains was released Feb. 28, but members of Sleeptaker have big news to announce in the coming weeks regarding their future together and the release of upcoming projects. “We can’t really talk about it,” laughed Trainor, trying not to sound pretentious. “Just know that we have big plans for the future.”