Reality sure ain’t what it used to be. Eighteen months under lockdown, while being fed a constant diet of fake news and political doublespeak, seems to chipped away at some people’s perceptions to the point where they can no longer distinguish between science fiction and science fact. Such concerns weigh heavy – in every sense – on Sleep Waker’s second album. Musically, much of Alias is a raging bull while, lyrically, it tries to make sense of 2021’s avalanche of raging bullshit by exploring themes of identity and reality. And, as Olivia Rodrigo would say, God, it’s brutal in here. Guitarists Jake Impellizerri and Jason Caudill conjure up riff after riff, each hitting as hard as anything in the news – although, just like those bulletins, the sheer, unrelenting nature of it ...