Sleep at the Edge of the Earth (self-released) is the second album by Wilderun, a Folk Metal band from Boston, Massachusetts. They aim to not only play Folk Metal that can hold its own against the great European bands, but that also incorporates some of the American Folk traditions.
The opening number, ‘Dust and Crooked Thoughts’ immediately brings about that folky feel with acoustic guitars and running water, and is a very serene opening to the album, mirrored by the beautiful ‘Sleep at the Edge of the Earth’ that closes the album. Following on the introduction come the bulkiest bit of this album: the tetralogy of ‘Ash Memory’. These four songs are connected but all have their own distinct feel. ‘And So Opens the Earth’ is very bombastic, while ‘Hope and Shadow’ is very peaceful and gentle. ‘Bite the Wound’ is out and out Metal, while ‘The Faintest Echo’ has a very dark sound. Besides this wildly varying but effective tetralogy, I especially like ‘The Garden of Fire’, which is a very heavy song and has really interesting melodies and lines that really caught my attention.
Sometimes when a band tries to merge all their favourite styles of music together they end up falling on their face, but not so with Wilderun. For me the key word of this album is balance. They highlight an acoustic guitar in the midst of an onslaught of metal, and add all the heavy edges to an atmospheric folk section. The different vocals styles – regular vocals, chant-like vocals, and grunts – are always in perfect harmony with the music they feature in, and that’s exactly the way I like it. In fact, I frequently found myself grinning with joy at a particularly good riff or vocal line, because this album is a lot of fun.
8.0/10
LORRAINE LYSEN