### Apostate: Trapped in a sleep

#### 21/03/12 || gk

Ukraine’s Apostate started way back in 1993 and after many trials and tribulations finally released their debut album in 2010. This was re-issued in 2011 and finally made its way here in 2012. “Trapped in a Sleep” is some very melodic, slightly gothic, death doom. The music overall isn’t bad but it is quite bland. The band seems to take most of its inspirations from European doom bands like old Lacrimus Profundere and Funeral. The big let down with the album is in the vocals. While there are 2 vocalists listed in the credits, I could have sworn there were 4 or 5 vocalists in the band simply going by the various styles employed. Not all of it works and occasionally the ultra deep clean vocals get a little comical with the vocalist sacrificing clarity and pitch in trying to hit a really deep note. The music too occasionally gets a bit too melodic for my taste with too many keyboard melodies sucking the heaviness out of the riffs. There’s nothing original here and the songs just become background music too quickly and fail to leave any sort of impact. I’m sure the musicians are talented enough but the band really needs to work on their songwriting if they want to leave any sort of lasting impression. Overall, I wouldn’t call this bad but there’s nothing here to warrant repeat listens.

5/10: Pretty average melodic death doom.