It’s a reviewer’s delight / nightmare. All the adjectives: ‘layered’; ‘crushing’; ‘heavy’; ‘sludgy’; ‘brutal’; ‘detailed’. Please, pass the thesaurus. It’s all about contrast. It’s all about texture. It’s all about the ebb and flow, the explosive crescendos yielding to moments of delicate reflection. It’s all about expansive, cinematic soundscapes rendered in the heaviest, most crushing, pulverisingly heavy shades. The driving guitars provide the backdrop to the anguished, howling, guttural vocals, low in the mix amidst the tonal tempest.
With the exception of the three-minute title track, there isn’t a piece on here that’s under eight minutes in length. This is an album that sustains its attack over the long stretch. And as much as it’s brutal, it’s also really quite beautiful.
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‘Awaken’ is an album which hits with its full force, but contains near-infinite depths which gradually reveal themselves over time. There is a lot of detail. There are some strong melodies amidst the mayhem and the fiery fury, but never is there a moment when it turns ‘soft’.
From purgatorial pain emerges redemption, and from murk and darkness emerge flickers of hope and light. And it’s all performed with a burning intensity.
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