Reviewed by Greg Sammons

Century Sleeper is a kind of joint side project from James Allin (Visionaire) and Ian Arkley (My Silent Wake, ex-Seventh Angel and Ashen Mortality). To call it a collaboration is a little inaccurate, as most of the songs here are either written and performed by one or the other. The album does have an overall mood and feel to it, sticking mainly to their gothic doom and death metal common ground. You could ask why on earth has this collaboration happened, and certainly in the form it is presented; well, that is until you actually listen to the quality of the music. Both musicians are fantastic and 'AwakenT' provides an excellent insight for fans of either Allin or Arkley to check out the musicianship of the other. Lyrically it's pretty stunning too. The guitars are nice and heavy but with light melodic touches and dark vocals while James' use of female vocals may leave some fans of Ashen Mortality harking back to what once was. His keyboards are pretty nifty too. For folowers of Ian Arkley, this may well be one of his best ever albums and if nothing else provides an excellent stop-gap between My Silent Wake's current album and next year's proposed double CD.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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