By: Deek

Posted: Jul 27, 2005

Many people place Slumber in the melodic doom area of the metal spectrum. But I have to argue that, as this is more along the lines of melodic death. Damn good melodic-death. Yes, there are hints of doom throughout the album, so the full term for their style could be called melodic-death-doom, sort of like what Novembers Doom and Daylight Dies play, but the death metal aspects overpower the doom by a long shot. And, for a debut, this album is amazingly good. "Fallout" makes Sweden's Slumber sound like they are seasoned veterans of this style. Definitely one of the best debuts in a while.

Throughout the album, keyboards are used (generally) in the background. They are rather subtle which fits the music perfectly. Overall, there really aren't any bad tracks on this album. The stronger songs are 'Rapture' (the album's strongest song), 'Where Nothing Was Left' (fantastic ending), 'Distress' (mid-paced but great) and 'A Wanderer’s Star'. There is one song, 'Conflict', that the keyboards used are not always in the background, as it is a main focus at some points in the song, but, again, it fits really well. 'A Wanderer's Star' is the perfect ending song to this album. The title track has variation that is a nice contrast. And the vocals, while not the best in the business, fit the music perfectly. In all actuality, although 'Dreamspace' is the weakest song on here, there isn't a single filler song on here. Yes, there's only seven songs, but a seven song album with no fillers is better than a ten song album with a couple fillers.

Short review, I know, but just how good this album is is hard to put into words. Production fits perfectly, vocals fit perfectly, keyboards fit perfectly. There is just something small that is missing, which is why it gets a 9.5 rating. I just wish I knew what that small thing is. But that doesn't matter now. This is definitely an album that melodic death fans, doom fans, even goth fans should give a listen. I sincerely doubt anyone that fits that would be disappointed.

Rating: 9,5/10

Slumber website.

Print