Unholy "Awaken the Sleep" (Closed Casket Activities)
By Jeff Treppel
Monday. Sep 25, 12:02 AM
Evil hardcore is slightly more interesting than normal hardcore, but not by much.

Modern hardcore, in general, is pretty boring. There's only so much you can do with the genre that doesn't sound like Black Flag or Refused or Hatebreed, and I already have Damaged and The Shape of Punk to Come and Perseverance (and so should you). So the fact that Unholy actually try something slightly different is definitely commendable, even if the result isn't as interesting as they would hope: basically, these guys had the bright idea to have their shouting guy tear his throat over early ‘90s Earache death metal riffage. Imagine Hatebreed meets Entombed, but not as good, and that's about all the brainpower you need to devote to this band. Hell, the record is so short that, by the time you even think about it, it's over.

Awaken the Sleep's rather lean 16:49 running time actually works as both its biggest strength and greatest weakness. Brevity is certainly appreciated when the band's primary form of vocal communication is a really repetitive scream, but the short song lengths prevent the guitarists from really letting loose. This means all the songs (except the last one, which I'll get to in a moment) sound more or less interchangeable. The guitars sound suitably crunchy and menacing, but they just don't have time to develop any memorable riffs or hooks. That is, except for the totally awesome "Dreams in the Witchhouse," where Jonathan Dennison and Steve Caiello really get to shred. Problem is, even that track ends too soon. Intensity is one thing, but songs need room to breathe.

What saves this record from the scrap heap are, oddly enough, the lyrics. Instead of the usual "Rise above! We will rise above!" subject matter, these guys deal with the decidedly metal themes of evil and demons and Armageddon. They reference Lovecraft, which I appreciate, and the stories they use are lesser-known ones: no Cthulhu here. The shouting is even intelligible enough that you can kind of understand the words, which is nice. A hardcore band whose lyrics are the best part? Crazy, I know.

That isn't, however, quite enough to fully recommend this record. Hardcore fans looking for something slightly off the beatdown path might enjoy it, but Awaken the Sleep isn't anything special. Go invest in a copy of Wolverine Blues instead.
www.orderoftheunholy.com
www.closedcasketactivities.com

Listen to a song from this album in our Radio section!

Jeff Treppel

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