Rwake – Rest

More and more people are listening Stoner, Sludge, Southern Metal nowadays , in a point where it starts to become a trend. Well, this isn’t necessarily bad because we have more releases from the bands. Rwake, after four years and the great “Voices of Omens”, when they got more fans, are releasing their fifth sludge work, “Rest”. The fact that they are from the American South, the redneck homeland, the place where this music genre was born, make Rwake experienced to this kind of music. Besides, their early works prove that. Now, in 2011, the South is going to rise again.

To tell the truth, I was going to underestimate and low rate this album. I was ready to compare it with “Voices of Omens” and that would be wrong, because “Rest” is a completely different album. It is closely more to the early albums, the band takes the music of this period and develops it in some way. Rwake started to boost experimental elements from the predecessor album in “Rest”, which sound more interesting. This is clear in “An Invisible End”, which is a solid music void. Despite the band’s experimental ways, the rednecks do not leave the dusty soundscape. Generally, the production here is very good, sound is almost like crystal and also the instrumentation is worth-mentioned. But the negative thing, here, is that Britanny’s harsh vocals don’t fit always well in the songs. As I said before, it would be wrong to compare this album, with “Voices of Omens”. It doesn’t mean than one of them is bad. The previous album is more heavy and has more consistency. In “Rest” your mind is tripping and blows up because of the music. Take “The Culling” for example, which is a true psychedelia. If you will look carefully in their discography, on “Rest” for the first time Rwake write a song over 10 minutes. But the songs don’t tire the listener at all! You are condemned to drift in the psychedelic tornado of their music.

I don’t know what does the water of Arkansas include, but for the first time I heard a so well-played Sludge Metal, especially characterized by psychedelia. As soon as the album ends, when my mind hardly managed to be saved, “It Was Beautiful But Now Is Sour”, “The Culling” and the final “Was Only A Dream” easily stay as very well composed songs. But due to no consistency on the album, you have to look every song separately. Also, Cristopher’s characteristic vocals are equally good as in the predecessor albums. Rwake have truly written a soundtrack for the Apocalypse in “Rest”. The trumpets have sounded, the sky has opened and the South caught himself in a sludge music storm.