ALBUM REVIEW: Holocene – Awake The Dreamer
After establishing themselves with their 2019 debut Damaged Souls, Swedish metalcore troupe AWAKE THE DREAMER are back with their long-awaited follow-up, Holocene. From 2022, the band have been teasing fans with a smattering of singles that would eventually form the Take My Hand EP that came out back in August. Alongside a handful of new songs, they now combine for the album Holocene, a straight up, no-nonsense metalcore effort.
Opening up the album with one hell of a bang is Future. Kicking off proceedings with a swirling concoction of guitars, pounding drums with both clean and harsh vocals, it’s a strong opening for the record that doesn’t sound too far removed from a heavier version of LINKIN PARK, with the screamier vocals being very similar to that of Chester Bennington. There’s also a fun sounding synth that pops up throughout the song that combines with everything else to leave quite the mark on your eardrums from the get go. Tides ups the ante ever so slightly. It’s slower than the opener but makes up for that with a sumptuous sounding double bass and great chugging riffs. Max Anden’s vocals are a standout part of the track as he’s able to make his mark against the musical bombardment. It does however end very quickly, making you wish that it was ever so slightly longer than it is.
Take My Hand brings in a more oppressive nature to the album in a track that take no prisoners; the classic chugging sound of the guitar takes centre stage in this song that will have no issue convincing the audience to form enormous circle pits when performed live. Alone brings in something a little different by incorporating a more melodic/mainstream sound. The strong vocal performance and almost spectral sounding synths work together in what turns out to be this particular track’s strengths as they give this song an anthemic quality suited for a larger style of venue.
In what is perhaps one of the heavier sounding tracks of the album, Labyrinth sounds the way a bruise looks. It has a great swirling nature about it as all musical elements combine to create a storm of pounding drums and punishing guitar riffs that reverberate around your skull whilst listening. The title track is one of the more interesting sounding songs on the record – a spoken word track that would feel right at home in a viking epic. The echoing monologue of the track is surrounded by the swirling storm that Anden feels like he is conjuring with his words. This is a track that is as impressive as it is oppressive, and it will shake you to your core whilst listening.
Unfortunately, the latter part of the record does begin to fall into the territory of the tracks starting to blend into one and becoming repetitive. The likes of Burns and Violence tread the same waters of a few tracks that come before them. If you’d listened to this album in chunks at a time, you’d be forgiven for thinking they could possibly have been songs from earlier in the record, as various riffs and drum patterns begin to feel recycled.
Penultimate track Broken Home is an emotional sucker punch of a song with heavy lyrics that will bring in a good amount of feels to whoever listens. However, throughout sections of the song, the lyrics almost seem to be lost in the sound of the music and can sometimes offer a bit of trouble trying to make out what they’re saying at times. Rounding out the album is Echoes, serving as easily the heaviest track on the record. It’s a fast and furious outro that is sort of split into two parts. Once the heavy aspect of the record subsides, the outro leans more toward the anthemic side of things, combining the synths with the thundering drums and giant sounding guitars before bringing things to a close.
Whilst Holocene is a solid listen, it can be frustrating at times. It’s by no means bad at all but would perhaps have served better split into two EPs. The Take My Hand EP which features half of this album was a strong and concise offering from the band which didn’t outstay its welcome in the slightest. If the part of the album that was yet unreleased had followed the same suit, it wouldn’t have felt like it was repeating itself toward the end as it would have allowed enough time between releases to be a fresher listen.
Rating: 6/10
Holocene is set for release on September 27th via Arising Empire.
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