In Forgotten Sleep

Big, technical, sprawling, progressive, epic power metal.

This album doesn't play to my taste, because I tend to like tighter, cleaner stuff, but much of it simply demands respect. If you like more sprawling metal music, this should be a rare treat.

Take a track like "Eidolon." It opens with some orchestral flourishes, then sinks into some heavy guitars. Then a pure male voice--the lead singer is fortunately quite good--introduces the theme of the track: coming to terms with one's imminent death. At around the five-minute mark, we get some spooky Halloween orchestrations, and finally the death-metal voice makes an appearance. This is superbly well-done and extremely fun. Then there's a downbeat, jazzy instrumental section--then a build back to a manic guitar solo--then, finally, a return to the chorus, sung in sort of a triumphant way.

This album is all over the place, just barely held together by relentless energy. What makes it work is that many of the riffs and refrains that it tosses out are so memorable. The little details, though overwhelming and chaotic, often caught my attention. The first minute of "Visions of Awakening"--big chunks of the opening track "Dusk"-- the weird sultriness of "Spectrum." These all made me think that I had stumbled across something special.

The perfect album for me would have more structure, more discipline, and less schizophrenic energy. But I recognize this as a matter of taste, and for someone with different sensibilities, I think that In Forgotten Sleep would be a masterpiece.