Alunah – Awakening the Forest

English band Alunah have been doing the rounds for a few years now and have appeared on prestige festival line-ups such as Desertfest and Hard Rock Hell. Awakening the Forest is their third full length release and one that sees a step up from the previous 2 records.

Being roughly lumped in with the doom genre undersells their sound, it is more optimistic sounding and transmutes with the stoner scene as well. The riffs are powerful and simplistic and get under your skin very quickly and it also lets the dreamlike quality of Sophie’s vocals shine through, there is a gentle quality to her voice without sounding weak. There are times throughout this album where it for some reason conjures Sabbath’s Eternal Idol period, there is no direct or obvious link but just something about the sonic feel of the album. Production wise the guitars are not overly distorted but could do with a bit more heft in the bottom register, the kick drum has a great old sound to it which compliments the guitar sound. The big showpiece on this album is the closer the “Summerland”, with its clean intro before the infectious riff kicks in and the outro embeds itself with its repetitive riff which you just want to hear again and again.

The unique selling point is they are not planting their feet firmly in the doom or stoner camp and the vocals are unique enough to set them outside the expected norm of both these genres.

Track Listing

01. Bricket Wood Coven
02. Heavy Bough
03. Awakening the Forest
04. The Mask of Herne
05. Scourge and The Kiss
06. The Summerland

Band Members

Jake Mason -Drums
David Day -Guitars
Sophie Day -Vocals, Guitars
Dan Burchmore -Bass