Awakening, the newest album from Finnish Horse Latitudes, is by far the most peculiar album I have heard in a long time:
The tempo is extremely slow, as per the norm for Doom and Sludge acts, incredibly simple bass riffs and drum beats; and, most unusual of all: TWO bass tracks and no guitar.

While this perplexed my eighties-stuck mind greatly, the music does fit quite harmoniously with the grief-stricken vocals of the lead singer – combined, the music from Awakening gives off a powerful sense of dread and futility.
And as far as I have been informed, this is exactly the charm of this particular genre.

Although the album only contains six songs it still sports a playtime of a staggering 45 minutes (as I understand it, this can also be attributed to the traditions of Doom Metal). Nevertheless, all of the songs strive to create a very specific ambience and emotion around the listener, and as such all of the songs appear to be an extension of the prior, and a predecessor to the next on the album.

On the positive side, this means that you can completely submerge yourself within the reality of the album; looking at it negatively, it also means that if you dislike a single song on this album, you will hate the entirety of Awakening.

Conclusively, what is perhaps most important to say about Awakening is that it is better decribed as a single, long song than as an album in its own right. If you feel like listening to a very long and somewhat intense song, put this record in the stereo and give it a good, solid listen – However you have to be willing to listen to it in its entirety, or you will lose most of its charm. http://www.myspace.com/horselatitudesmetal


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