Label : Grom Records/Tmina Records
Review by Davide Torresan
6th Awakening is a curious case of a band. This Swedish group was created in 2001 by the singer Lovisa Lundmark and the guitarist Mathias Hamerud. Over the years, they changed the line-up many times and because of this, they released only 3 demos. Until now, since the line up has settled and therefore has been able to condense the ideas of the members into the debut album. The genre that they propose is melodic death metal with different contrasts and shades, thanks to the sound and Lovisa‘s voice. The main feature of this singer is that she can do both clean vocals and growl. She’s able to switch between the two styles with extreme ease. Just to give you an example, when she does the clean vocals she remembers me of Anna Murphy, the singer of the folk/death metal band Eluveitie. They have a similar vocal register. Now let’s talk of the music. 6th Awakening combines thrash with death metal, accelerations but also melodic parts. Electronics also gives a touch of personality to the overall sound of “Psycho Path”. It is difficult to name some songs to take as an example. I can’t because of the forced homogeneity that this work has, though I can try. I have the sensation to listen to a song that lasts 40 minutes. The opener “Raw” represents the perfect example of the band’s sound. The problem is that this one doesn’t change during the listening of the album. We have a small variation in “Shallow” with hints of electronics. Right here there is a strong resemblance of Lovisa‘s voice with the one of Djerv‘s singer, Agnete Kjølsrud. In the end of the album they cover a Type O Negative song, “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend”, that doesn’t add anything to what they have proposed so far. The classical debut album is the one where the band tries to give its best. Rarely you can listen to something beautiful and original and this is not the case of 6th Awakening. Postponed to the next album.
Rating – 60/100
Tracklist
- Raw
- Nightlife
- Psychosane
- Backwards
- One More Day
- Demon
- Shallow
- Tier
- Fake
- My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend (Type O Negative cover)
Line Up
- Lovisa Lundmark – Vocals
- Mathias Harnerud – Guitar
- David Jonasson – Guitar
- Mathias Jonsson – Bass
- Alexander Gustafsson – Drums