IAN ARKLEY/Lead vocals, lead guitar, bass, ebow. JAMES ALLIN/Keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, programming, background vocals.
Influences
Type-O-Negative, My Dying Bride, Celtic Frost, Dead Can Dance, Pink Floyd, Nick Cave, The Sisters Of Mercy, Paradise Lost, David Helpling, and other various metal and atmospheric influences.
....is the result of a collaboration between James Allin of Ikarian/Visionaire and Ian Arkley of My Silent Wake and The Other Window (ex member of Seventh Angel/Ashen Mortality/Paramaecium). The debut 'Awaken' was recorded last year in Monroe near Seattle at James' home studio, and is now due for a spring 2006 release. The album was written by Ian in the UK and James in the USA with demos going back and forth between the 2 members of the band. The bulk of 'Awaken' took just over a week to record and all the engineering was done by James who perfected the sound of the recording over the following months. The album was then mastered in the UK by Jeff Mortimer at Ideal mastering. Guest female vocals on Awaken were provided by Kate Hamilton of My Silent Wake. The album has over 70 mins of music and 11 songs.
The songs on the album are as follows;
Voyage,
Arnos Vale,
My Face In Eternity,
Look Straight Through,
Lost On Your Ocean,
Fainted World,
Centenary,
Your Once Loving Heart,
The End,
As I Close The Final Page,
Autumn
THE ALBUM IS NOW AVAILABLE VIA VARIOUS DISTRIBUTORS.
REVIEWS - Here are some excerpts from various reviews:
....The guitars are crushing at times, but also full of melancholy and haunting melodies. Like I've said of Arkley's playing before...when he plays the guitar, it's almost as if it's another vocalist and not just an instrument. It just seems to convey sadness and emotion like only the human voice can. And speaking of the human voice, the vocals here are tremendous...probably Arkley's best yet. His clean vocals are incredibly eerie and frightening. And his occasional deathly growls are deep and powerful. I'm just loving it!!! Katherine Hamilton also lends some gorgeous female vocals to a few of the songs. While they are not as frequent as what you would find on Ashen Mortality's albums, they are perfect placed and do nothing but help the songs. And then there are James Allin's talents that are displayed magnificently on the drums and keyboards..... 95/100 (Matt Morrow-The Whipping Post online zine)
...Mr Arkley's voice is uncannily similar to erstwhile Anathema/The Blood Divine vocalist Darren White and added to the fairly hefty slice of Pink Floyd influenced shimmering guitar melodies that are used throughout this album really should appeal to fans of earlier Anathema work....There are obvious influences from Britain's other two members of the 90s "big three", too, with a lot of the heavier parts being reminiscent of Paradise Lost's "Icon" period and whilst the atmospheric passages give a nod to My Dying Bride they never sound quite as browbeaten by the world as Aaron Stainthorpe and his merry men (and woman) do. Century Sleeper, then, wear their influences very definitely on their sleeves but "Awaken" is more than a mere tribute album and is well capable of holding it's own amongst such illustrious company.
.....they have the potential to be truly great. 7/10 (Neil woodfin Powerplay issue 82)
Wow, what an album! Century Sleeper is an interesting project from James Allin (Visionaire) and Ian Arkley (of My Silent Wake, and formerly of Seventh Angel & Ashen Mortality). Rumors about this album were already promising, but Awaken is even better than expected. This is a massive doom metal album with all the things that made Seventh Angel in the early nineties so attractive. Add to that the dark passion of Ashen Mortality and bit of old Paradise Lost. This is by far the best effort Ian Arkley ever has come up with. The guitars are heavy and are combined with melodic lead guitar playing, the vocals are dark (both the clean vocals as the grunts), and the rhythm section is powerful, while the keyboard give the songs the final touch. I really dig songs like Voyage, Arnos Vale, Lost On Your Ocean and Autumn. The rest of the songs are worth my while too. This is an album to be proud of! I love it!
(Art For The Ears Webzine)
.....You could ask why on earth has this collaboration happened, and certainly in the form it is presented; well, that is until you actually listen to the quality of the music. Both musicians are fantastic and 'Awaken' provides an excellent insight for fans of either Allin or Arkley to check out the musicianship of the other. Lyrically it's pretty stunning too..... For folowers of Ian Arkley, this may well be one of his best ever albums....(Greg Sammons Crossrhythms 9/10)
+ DOOM METAL + Dear century sleeper, Sorrows Path are now recording their new album at Fragile Studios in Athens! Enter to our profile and listen to 2 demo samples of our new songs (The Beast, Mr. Holy). You can also download these samples at: www. sorrowspath.tk Take care, Sorrows Path + DOOM METAL +
Hi. Thanks for the add, and the kind words about our little choons. New songs will be posted soon - "Corrupted" and "Impaler". Keep up the great work - you guys ROCK! Malcolm for Luciphile
