SLEEPWALKER SUN

I'm new to the genre, and I'm not sure if this album is atypical, but I expected a progressive metal album to feature more... metal! A lot of the material here is truly symphonic with many acoustic passages and that surprised me. That should make Sleepwalker Sun's debut ideal for me, but I have a few issues with the album. Female singer Giana Araujo's voice has a rather nasal tone and all lyrics are in English. Her voice isn't that big a deal but I do prefer bands to sing in the vernacular (Portuguese in the case of this Brazilian band). There is the additional problem here that the English vocals are often unclear and the lyrics are at times incoherent, although the lyrics are reproduced in the booklet that comes with the cd.

As far as the music is concerned, the highlight is Marcus Viana's guest appearance on BLINDFOLD where his lyrical violin passages contrast with the aggressive metal guitar sections. The violin with Mellotron-choir backing around the 9-minute mark is sublime. The other songs are nicely structured, for example BRING 'EM is built around acoustic guitar arpeggios and synth/piano lines with heavy guitar riffs bursting through intermittently. This is all well and good but the melodies on some of the songs just aren't that memorable and for me there's too great a reliance placed on uninspired guitar riffs. One of the best of those riffs comes during the closing section of RUSSIAN ROULETTE, although NOCTURNAL delivers the goods as well and it also features a nifty Moog solo by Tempus Fugit's Andre Mello.

Overall, this isn't a bad album and Sleepwalker Sun are without doubt highly competent musicians. When I think about it, I guess that even the dodgy lyrics are just standard fare for a prog band.