A wordplay on death like slumber of the Gothic novel, Sunken’s debut, ‘From Sleep Like Death’, is a record that explores the many creepy corridors in the necropolis of nineties death doom metal. Even though Sunken was formed as a duo as far back as 2009 it wasn’t until these Fins switched to a four piece eight years later that they really became a fully fledged band.

Therefore, their debut is the result of more than a decade of writing. That’s doom for you. This might account also for the fact that this quartet of pallbearers deliver their gloom in many different shades. The Anathema styled intro of ‘Unfalter’ opens the album, bringing a song which gets an almost blackish vibe in its most unhinged moments. As a counterpoint, ‘Sanctuary’ opens up biting and scratching with heavy riffing. The next song, ‘Island’ has a bit more kick in the vein of old Katatonia or Rapture until it take a turn for the melancholic in its second half.

That melancholic streak is taken over in the instrumental interlude that is ‘Lost Caress’. Its last protracted notes bleed over into ‘Severed Memory’, a deathly sort of beast, reminiscent of ‘Lost Paradise’ era Paradise Lost. The chugging ‘Sore Light’ fights its way to an emotional climax that sets it up for the mournful leads of ‘Unspoken Misery’.

‘Dolor Sunlit’, incidentally also the longest song on the record, is a very funereal track that builds up sparingly in its initial minutes. After the deeply growled vocals have finally seeped in, the melodic interplay of the morose guitars consolidates this near perfect doom composition, rounding off the record as the revenant slowly stumbles back to his coffin and closes the lid on this excellent tome of death doom.

Release Date: July 10 2020
Label: Argonauta Records
Tracklist:

1. Unfalter
2. Sanctuary
3. Island
4. Lost Caress
5. Severed Memory
6. Sore Light
7. Unspoken Misery
8. Dolor Sunlit