Astral Sleep - Unawakening
Solitude Productions

file under doom metal

Pim B.: This is the debut album of this Finnish doom/death metal act around singer/guitarist Markus Heinonen, whose other act
Night of Suicide got reviewed by me last month.

With Astral Sleep Heinonen plays more in the doom/death vein with some funeral doom parts added. Here and there you can hear some other influences as well that refer a bit to their countrymen Aarni. All these ingredients don’t guarantee a top album, which becomes clear after a couple of listening sessions. The most important aspect of my criticism is the fact that this simply doesn’t sound heavy enough due to a mediocre production. The guitar parts simply lack the balls they need and that’s a shame because this genre needs that heaviness. Clearly a case of a chance missed. The vocal capabilities of Heinonen aren’t that good either, especially the clean vocals are not too good. The ideas are there and this could have been pretty good as there is some potential. But in this day and era there are so many bands in this genre so you better spend money on another album.

Rating: 61/100 (details)

http://www.myspace.com/astralsleep