SLEEPWALKER SUN

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This is an interesting Brasilian musical project featuring violin player Marcus Viana from SAGRADO and Andre Mello from TEMPUS FUGIT. I had heard many positive stories about this CD and was very curious to hear it finally! Well, from the very first moment I was struck by their sound, this is very good progrock and deserves more attention!

This eponymous debut CD contains seven alternating and dynamic compositions (between 4 and 15 minutes): from dreamy or compelling to bombastic and propulsive with often a great tension between the majestic violin and heavy electric guitar. The music delivers many shifting moods and accelarations, most of the time fluent and bombastic and loaded with great guitar work (fiery and biting soli and heavy riffs) and a huge portion of sumptuous keyboards. The female singer Giana Araujo does a good job but I prefer her singing in the more mellow parts. My highlights are the exciting opener Blindfold (great contrast between the classical violin - and electric guitar sound), Russian Roulette (wonderful Mellotron waves), the mellow Jalen's Eyes (beautiful classical violin and piano) and the dynamic, a bit Rush-inspired Nocturnal (great bombastic sound and strong soli on guitar and keyboards).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

An album that slowly grew into me

As a lover of progressive metal and of brazilian progressive rock, it was only natural that sooner or later i would buy this album, after all it is a brazilian progressive metal album. However, what drove me to this album, what made me buy it, was the beatiful slipcase and cover, just incredibly eye-catching. When I asked to listen to the album at the store, I took the oportunity to see the bookelet and it was also pretty good. Since the first two songs were pretty good, I decided to buy the album, but when I listened to it carefully for the first time I had a major disappontment: their lead vocalist (Giana Araújo) sings with her nose (she support her singing with the nose), what is definitely NOT good. That can be seen more clearly in the third song, called Sleepwalker Sun.

However, more than a year after the day I bought the album have passed and now I realise that the vocalist problem isn't as bad as it looked at first. Sure her singing its not perfect, but even though that is a downside, she still have some qualities, like having a great diction and a considerably sweet voice.

Moving on, like most progressive metal albums out there, the most impressive feature of this album (and most probably the most impressive feature of this band, but they still need to release other albums to make me sure about it) are the instrumental parts. The (core) band seems very cohere and top notch, although having a large amount of invited / featured musicians, like the Sagrado Coração da Terra violinist Marcus Viana and the Tempus Fugit keyboardist André Mello, but that does not interfere negatively in the overall quality of the album, au contraire, it works in favor of the album.

It is also important to note that all the album has a dark atmosphere. Don't know quite why, maybe because minor keys are used in most songs throughout the album and also the vocals sound, somehow, gothic.

Grade and Final Thoughts

Despite the initial problem with the vocals, I realised that Sleepwalker Sun is actually a pretty good album and, therefore, should be graded as such. 4 stars then.

Progressive metal from Brazil.

Well, actually, it is not.

Sleepwalker Sun is one of the bands which transgress all borders. Yes, they sounds like Dream Theater too. But they are not quite a progressive metal band.

Herein lays their problem.

I am not so sure if the more casual listener want to be challenged like Sleepwalker Sun's music challenges the listener. Because their music is not easy to penetrate. I have used several days to find out which band their female vocalist sounds like. I finally found the answer just before I was about to go mental.

Sleepwalker Sun is fronted by the female vocalist Giana Araújo. An excellent vocalist, btw. But she is not a progressive metal vocalist in any form or in any shape. So when the excellent guitarist goes on a John Petrucci like run, Giana pulls the band in another direction again. It creates strains in the sound and gives Sleepwalker Sun a multi faceted artistic expression. Giana reminds me a lot about Dolores O'Riordan in The Cranberries. Which is a good thing.

Yes, the band sounds like Dream Theater at times and this album would appeal to their fans too. But they also sounds like Tempus Fugit, Pendragon, Yes and Jaime Rosas Cuarteto too. With the vocals sounding more like indie and The Cranberries, this is not the run of the mill progressive metal album.

The quality of the music is superb throughout, though. I have to admit I have played this album far more than ten times and I plead guilty to the accusations of really liking this album. I like it a lot, in fact. I like the vocals and the guitars solos here. I think the title track is brilliant. I like the sound. In fact, I find no weaknesses on this album. It is not a masterpiece. But for those who are into challenging progressive rock somewhere between Symphonic Prog, Neo Prog and progressive metal; this album is an excellent choice. There is no weak songs here and not a single dull moment. This is a superb debut album from a band who does neither follow the norms or the conventions.

4 stars

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.