METAL SPHERE (Sweden) - 9/10 - http://www.metal-sphere.net/

Sometimes an album leaves me with the feeling that I must scream about it from the mountain tops, since it probably won’t get the attention it deserves. Well, this is one of those albums and since the mountain tops feel a bit inaccessible to me, I’ll do the next best thing, i.e. post a review on the net.

Sleepwalker Sun is a Brazilian band, formed around the remains of Revealing Web (of whom I’ve heard nothing). Luiz Alvim didn’t want the songs written for Revealing Web to go to waste and with the result at hand I’m glad he persisted. This album does however feel more like a project than a regular band effort. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, but this time the “too many cooks”-problem certainly is sidestepped. The music balances between progressive rock and metal, and the musical influences are numerous. There are plenty of Dream Theater and Rush references during instrumental parts, but fans of the prog rock genre and bands like Pink Floyd, Marillion, The Flower Kings, Spock’s Beard, will also feel right at home with this.

Sleepwalker Sun differs from the bands mentioned above as it’s headed by a female vocalist. Giana Araújo has a great voice both in the middle and high register. When the higher register is employed the result has a Nightwish feeling to it, but in the middle register she has a whining rock voice, and it’s not surprising to find Janis Joplin amongst her influences. Araújo gives an overall strong performance but she’s still one of the reasons this album doesn’t climb above the 9 mark. A perfect album needs perfect vocals and Araújo isn’t there yet. And there are some vocal melodies that also could have been better. The title track is an example of this.

And while on the subject of flaws, the modernistic lyrics feel more weird than good. There are different people involved in writing lyrics for different songs and the attempts are interesting, but most of the time linguistically suffering. Marcos Eichler (involved only with lyrics) is most successful with his lyrics about a sense of loss for the track Dead Flowers.

Musically however, this album is close to perfection. There are 7 songs and they all feel special to me. Actually, in my opinion you only need to listen to the (14 minutes long) first track of the album to understand that you’re getting your money’s worth. Mercus Viana, on loan from Sagrado Coração da Terra, dominates this track. With impeccable feeling and excellent production his violin adds a feeling of esoteric excitement to Blindfold. Araújo mainly uses her beautiful, solemn vocals during the verses, and she’s aided by Fabio Guerrero (from 2112, a Rush cover band) for the more powerful chorus. After a tranquil opening, a heavy guitar leads the track into some intense Dream Theater parts, just to calm down again with Alvim’s piano supporting the violin and vocals. The music then walks up and down the intensity scale with a short break in the middle. Rodrigo Martinho on drums claims the spotlight right before the break with some nice percussive finesse, and then a violin solo from Viana, together with expressive bass guitar from Francisco Falcon, gets things going again. Falcon gets more funky as Ricardo Marins replaces the violin with lead guitar. Falcon also gets to end the song with a Pink Floyd style guitar solo, again with amazing bass guitar support from Falcon and strong piano playing from Alvim.

Alvim, Falcon and Martinho impressed me greatly throughout the album. It’s not always the most advanced moves you’ll ever hear, but there’s a thought behind everything and that’s always more important. Alvim piles up great piano parts and keyboard solos, Falcon shifts effortlessly between melodic melodies and heavy pounding (listen to his bulldozer bass guitar on the title track) and Martinho often excels on parts where the other instruments are toned down. The band doesn’t seem to have a regular guitarist, but since there are four guitarists involved on this album, there is no lack of memorable guitar parts.

The rest of the tracks are between 7 and 10 minutes long, besides the melancholic and beautiful Jalen’s Eyes (yet again Viana gives a killer performance on violin) which is just under 5 minutes. I’m not going to describe the rest of the tracks, but the intense Russian Roulette deserves a special mentioning as the band feels extremely inspired on this one.

This album is a journey, and it’s a trip I recommend wholeheartedly. Brazil is becoming more and more interesting musically and it’s nice to see how musicians with different backgrounds and musical preferences can come together and create eclectic music as inspired as Sleepwalker Sun. It bodes well for the future.

PROG ARCHIVES (Canada) - 4/5 - http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=62640

This is an interesting Brasilian musical project featuring violin player Marcus Viana from SAGRADO and Andre Mello from TEMPUS FUGIT. I had heard many positive stories about this CD and was very curious to hear it finally! Well, from the very first moment I was struck by their sound, this is very good progrock and deserves more attention!

This eponymous debut CD contains seven alternating and dynamic compositions (between 4 and 15 minutes): from dreamy or compelling to bombastic and propulsive with often a great tension between the majestic violin and heavy electric guitar. The music delivers many shifting moods and accelarations, most of the time fluent and bombastic and loaded with great guitar work (fiery and biting soli and heavy riffs) and a huge portion of sumptuous keyboards. The female singer Giana Araujo does a good job but I prefer her singing in the more mellow parts. My highlights are the exciting opener Blindfold (great contrast between the classical violin - and electric guitar sound), Russian Roulette (wonderful Mellotron waves), the mellow Jalen’s Eyes (beautiful classical violin and piano) and the dynamic, a bit Rush-inspired Nocturnal (great bombastic sound and strong soli on guitar and keyboards).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

ROADIE CREW - 8/10

This is the debut album from Sleepwalker Sun and a great surprise for brazilian progressive rock scene. The band goes on 70’s and 80’s bands vein, and we can tell the influences of Yes, ELP and Dream Theater, among others.

The best thing is that all the instrumental parts are followed by versatile vocalist Giana Araújo, that has a voice that reminds me of, at some parts, Anneke Van Giersbergen from The Gathering. The album opens with the epic Blindfold, with more than 14 minutes of creativity and musical journey, with guest appearance by violinist Marcus Viana, who contributes with Shaaman at several works.

Also in Jalen’s Eyes, the violin parts from Marcus Viana are very present. Bring’em shows a heavier side of the band, with highlights for guitar riffs and also the acoustic parts. The keyboard arrangements are also very good, with mellotron, hammond and synthesizers. The beginning of track Sleepwalker Sun shows it clearly. One highlight of the album is Dead Flowers, with its melancholic atmosphere and excellent piano sound.

An excellent debut with musicality high above other albums.