Dead Awaken are a Swedish death metal band (from Västerås to be precise) who have recently released their debut album, Where Hope Turns Dripping Red. Which, if I may say so, is a damn good title for a record.
They’ve been together since 2002, and released a series of demos before signing with Abyss Records for their first full length offering. Annoyingly, despite being all over the interwebnet, they’ve not got anything on a website which will allow me to embed a decent sample of their wares.
Instead, I will direct you to their ReverbNation page which has a couple of tracks on. They are definitely good, and it’s a shame I can’t have an example below. What I can give you is a bunch of information about them courtesy of their official bio (which isn’t actually on their facefart page, so it’s worth a read).
Dead Awaken started out in the spring of 2002.
The members were:
Andreas “Adde” Backström – guitar
Joakim Edlund – Drums
Jonas Lindberg – guitar
Andreas Morén – vocals
The band was missing a bass player, but those army boots were soon filled by former ABHOTH guitarist/vocalist Jörgen Kristensen. Some gigs were played as a 5-piece and a demo was recorded, before there was time for a change.
Jörgen switched to his main instrument(s)- Guitar & vocals. Jonas had to leave the band, on good terms. Andreas Morén switched to bass and backup vocals. They kept gigging and entered the Gothenburg Deathfest bill, in 2005. On the bill were, among others Aborted and Insision.
Soon after this show Adde decided to step out, due to a lack of interest in the genre. A few shows were played as a 3 piece, before adding guitarist Attila Hollsén to the line up. Only a couple of gigs were played with this line up, before original drummer Joakim left. Without a drummer, the band was in state of limbo for a few months. In early 2007 Jörgen’s old bandmate Mats “Masse” Blückert entered Dead Awaken and intense rehearsing began.
May 2007 the band went back onstage at local Festival Mälarrocken, with killer acts like Behemoth. Unfortunately this ended up being the last show with Attila, who left for personal reasons. A couple of guitarists were auditioned, before deciding that enough damage was done as a 3-piece. Not letting the change stop the tank, they went straight back into the trench and kept gigging. A few shows were done with Vomitory, before entering the studio, to record the debut album.
During the recording, in the fall of 2010, the band decided to part ways with long term bass player Andreas. He wanted to focus on his other band Bleeding Utopia. Not intending to let this slow them down, Jörgen did all the guitar, bass and vocals in the studio. After all the studiowork was done, a deal was secured with Abyss records.
Continuing as a 3-piece with session bass players Magnus Wall / Jonas Stålhammar (Both former ABHOTH members), the road was hit again, with labelmates Entrench. After a number of well recieved demo’s, it was time to declare war upon the world, with the debut album Where Hope Turns Dripping Red.
