Awake In Sleep

The latest release from Awake in Sleep, sounds like a veteran album from the likes of Isis, Pelican, Jesu or Cult of Luna. This 5 piece band from Nantes, France gives us quite a treat. Featuring: Guitar, vocals – Andrey Kalinovsky; Guitar, back vocals – Jérémie Godet; Guitar – François Clézio; Bass, back vocals – David Roger; Drums – Maxime Guerreiro.

The self titled release has 4 songs with a duration of around 31 minutes of post-metal. At first inspection of the album, one thing that stands out is the striking artwork done by Flow Yan Chroma. Beginning with the first track “A Place to Die”, the atmospheric build of guitars, clean vocals into doom/sludge slow driving riffs catch your attention immediately. The second track, “Cold Waves”, starts into a slow build of progressing syncopated drums and chromatic riffs. Simple in its delivery, but executed beautifully. Half way through, the same change into thunderous riffs and gnarly, strife laden vocals. Next tack, “A Shrine for the Sleepless”, is over 7 minutes of pure sonic assault of a more experimental side from the band by raising the noise floor, vocals, and driving sound; I can only imagine this song live would take up most of their set. With this track, I see the most promise from the band, showing us the door towards the future. Lastly, and leaving me wanting more tracks to hear, is “Flowing Seasons”, a 10 minute finely crafted finish to this album. The cyclical guitar swimming into your psyche then become an unrelenting bellow of pure epic doom riffage. The musicianship and creativity of these 5 men far surpass many releases I have heard this year and this album is in my personal top 10 for 2011. I recommend this album to anyone that enjoys music with serious substance. This band has a blossoming future ahead of them.