Artist: Awake By Design
Title: Sentiment
Type: Album
Label: Self Release
Awake By Design have taken a style of music generally dominated by the Finnish and have tried to put a very British stamp on proceedings, whether they’ve achieved that or not is a matter of opinion. ‘Sentiment’ is all about radio friendly Gothic Rock in the style of Sentenced, Poisonblack and the dreaded HIM. If that is not your bag, then I really suggest you waste no time by reading any further, but anyone prepared to give this one a bit of a chance may be pleasantly surprised, or at the very least, not completely repulsed.
On first listen, I was very dismissive of this from the opening song, but as I carried on through it, I was finding myself drawn in on a few levels. Musically they are very accomplished, and this is accentuated by a very professional production. Singer Adrian has a very strong voice, a mixture of Sentenced and Poisonblack’s Ville Laihiala, Pete Murphy of Bauhaus and David Bowie. It’s also an album that seems to improve as it goes on. Opening track ‘The Visions Truth’ whilst sounding quite charged, has a very repetitive verse structure that sticks in the mind, but for all the wrong reasons, as it’s droning and irritating. ‘Ethereal’ takes us firmly into bland HIM territory along with the quite pacy ‘Silence Undone’. The guitars lend a Goth/Doom feel to the songs, with a style at times comparable to Paradise Lost’s Greg Mackintosh. The title track is a bit of a monster, twisting and turning through a number of styles, with a very accomplished death style vocal break reminiscent of early PL, and is one of the highlights of the album. This is followed by ‘A Scarlet Coming’, a quite excellent guitar driven instrumental that really shows off the creativity and quality of composition these guys obviously have in their locker. Final track ‘Passing Through Denial’ starts out sounding like a brooding doom laden miseryfest, and was well on the way to being by far and away the best thing here, but it returns to the standard paced commercial Goth Rock which, whilst in keeping with the rest of the album, disappointed me a bit.
This kind of music is not for anyone who likes their music heavy, but for what it is, it’s actually very well put together. Musically they are very tight, if a little derivative, but where originality is lacking, you need talent, and it’s abundantly clear Awake By Design do have that. With that in mind however, if you are not already a fan of this style of goth rock, there’s nothing here to change your mind.
http://www.myspace.com/awakebydesign
Lee Kimber
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