This is the fourth album over the span of 20 years for In Slumber, with Wolfgang Rothbauer taking care of vocals, guitars, bass, song writing and lyrics, i.e.: pretty much everything other than drums which were dealt with by Flo Musil. The 9-track album goes through a couple of tempos but is blatantly death metal no matter the speed of the song.

The album opener “Clairvoyance” comes straight in at a good pace with a heavy guitar riff and strong drumming, but after about 30 seconds what feels like is going to be a step down becomes hyper-fast blasting with black metal like tremolo picking over incredibly angry sounding death rasps. There are slower tempos, but only back to the intro speed, before reverting to the hyper-fast verses, however the vocals maintain an even pace throughout.

“Stillborn” keeps the blasting for the intro, while slowing slightly for the remainder of the song with the vocals being growled and screamed at half the pace to follow the more melodic second guitar.

A far poppier sounding riff gives “Parasomnia” a more allegro feel, but the death vocals prevent it from getting too happy while “The Lake of Visions” starts off slow and doomy but soon progresses with faster drumming as the buzzsaw guitars are joined by doom-death vocals with a touch of black metal rasp added for emphasis towards the end of each verse.

The most mid-tempo song on the album is “Sleep Paralysis”, however it still throws in a few blasts to keep things interesting as the slower guitars go for heavier sound.

The intro guitars sound as if they are being played at the end of long corridor, but then all of a sudden, a door is opened and “Manacle Of Dogma” hits you with full the force of guitars and blasting drums, which are joined by acerbic vocals. About halfway through the pace settles down to allow for a meandering lead to laconically wind its way towards the song’s outro.

“The Demon Whispers” is far slower with an acoustic bridge in the middle of the song, which definitely makes the final quarter of the song seem substantially faster when it blasts back at full tilt.

The steady drumming and rhythm riff on “Subconscious Scars” are accompanied by a melodic riff that cuts through to lighten the tone of the song by adding an alternate focal point for you to concentrate on.

The album ends with the short song “A Moral Of Strain” where the booming drums perfectly match the deep growls as the rolling guitar riffs add the required heaviness to wrap things up.

Coming in just shy of 40 mins, the album gets in, does what it needs to and doesn’t linger unnecessarily.

(7/10 Marco Gaminara)

https://war-anthem-records.bandcamp.com/album/while-we-sleep