Oceanwake is a Finnish Metal/Doom Metal band formed 5 years ago; they have already released their debut album ‘Kingdom’ in 2013. This year, they have returned with their sophomore ‘Sunless’ to be released 13 of March.
Firstly, not every band is capable of nailing long length tracks. I personally get easily bored by long tracks sometimes; it’s not easy to get the listener hooked for more than 10 minutes. But well, I didn’t want the opener track to end. Though I didn’t like it at first because I had false belief that they won’t offer something new here from typical Doom Metal, after 2-3 minutes, I changed my mind. The second track got me hooked from first second and by third, I decided that I like Sunless. Last track ‘Ephemeral’ easily became a favorite, and I got it on replay.
So, what did I like about the album? First of all, the production is great, in some doom albums, between the distortion and the guitar tuning, something is lost due to poor quality production. It’s not the case here. I also loved their melody; it’s my favorite thing about the album. Not only is it filled with emotions but it also goes very well with everything. There’s harmony in every second of the LP. Vocally, I’m known to be picky about grunts generally but I can tell whether the growler is good or not, and Eero Haula is…I actually enjoyed listening to him combined with the music…so that’s another hit point.
Now, in my humble opinion, sophomores are important factors in building a strong fan base. That’s where the true metal- no pun intended- of the band is shown; whether they can keep up with the success or not, whether they’re one-trick ponies or not. And I believe with Sunless, they can build a fairly strong fan base.
Whether you’re a Doom Metal hardcore fan or you just roll between genres- like me- I recommend you to listen to Sunless when it’s out this March. It’s made for good music lovers!
Sounds Like: Cult of Luna, Swallow the Sun, and Opeth.
LINE-UP:
Eero Haula: Vocals
Martti Koski: Guitar
Mikko Kulju: Drums
Ville-Veikko Laaksonen: Guitar
Jarkko Mäkelä: Bass
TRACKLIST:
01. The Lay of a Coming Storm
02. Parhelion
03. Avanturine
04. Ephemeral
Edited by: NJ Bakr
