The Ultimate Review of The Wakening

So I found this band due to Tommy Tuovinen's excellent vocals in the band MyGrain, and I thought that (since I had nothing better or more important to do with my time) I'd check them out and see if they're doing the metal community any sadly undiscovered favours. And it turns out that they are.

The first thing I must note is a sad one: Tommy only does the growls on this record. Admittedly the cleans from Asim Searah are still very enjoyable, but I wish that Tommy was doing them instead. That was the main selling point for me, and I was left a little disappointed. Call it a mistake to not bother checking first, but in a way I'm still glad that I found this band. Their stuff is very enjoyable even without Tommy's soulful singing.

The band doesn't have a keyboard player (well, there is a session player, but for the most part you wouldn't know he was there), so they're completely reliant on the guitars doing a good job, at least a better one than MyGrain did on their latest release. Well done lads, you've managed that much. And in fact their playing is interesting in an unusual way. While they do spend a lot of time chug, chug, chugging, they generate an obvious amount of emotion that most players can't manage. It is a shame that half of the time the noise they make isn't as appealing, but when it's done right it's done right to the extent that you can overlook their shortcomings.

The drumming is okay, nothing special but at least the guy has some sense of timing and he isn't all over the shop. Other people might be able to identify where the bassist was at the time of recording, but personally I can't. It isn't extremely obvious in Damnation Plan, and in all honesty it's hardly going to change whether the band is good or not.

The best song is The Unknown Presence. It's the song that feels the most like a proper melodeath track, less chugging from the guitars are a more melodic feeling. The combined vocals give a real sense of emotion, and it really hits you quite hard. That's what I want from my music, so I have to commend them for that. I like the song Crimson Skies too, although in a different way. It's more laid back and feels more like a gothic metal song with some harder influences. Once again the feeling given off by the band is what makes the song, but the music is more atmospheric and relies on getting to the listener in that way as apposed to by playing hard and fast.

This band is a good find and I'd recommend you give them a listen if you're in the mood for some powerful Finnish melodic death metal. Even if melodeath isn't your favourite genre of music, you'll probably like some of this stuff, simply because it's so varied.
Final Score: 28 / 100