adg211288 Sleep at the Edge of the Earth (2015) is the second full-length album by US folk metal act Wilderun. I must admit that Wilderun's eventual follow-up to their debut album Olden Tales & Deathly Trails (2012) has been one of my most anticipated albums since pretty much as soon as I first heard their debut. To me, Olden Tales & Deathly Trails is not only a cracking debut, but one of the very best records of recent years. So naturally the expectations are high for Sleep at the Edge of the Earth.

Musically Sleep at the Edge of the Earth features the same sort of blend of folk, progressive, symphonic and melodic death metal than made up Olden Tales & Deathly Trails. Wilderun are a band that sound like a lot of other big name metal bands were thrown into a blender and they were what came out afterwards. Back in 2012 the band was first mentioned to me as a sort of cross between Turisas and Ensiferum but there's really more to them than that; a nod to extreme progressive metal acts like pre-Heritage Opeth is a valid comparison too. Vocalist Evan Berry could easily be considered to have similarities to both Turisas' Mathias Nygård for the style and tone of his clean singing but also to Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt for the way he can launch into a very deep and powerful growling voice as well. There aren't any real surprises to be found in the album if you've heard the debut, but while I know that some people tend to be critical of records that don't break an artist any new ground, if it isn't broke don't fix it and Olden Tales & Deathly Trails certainly didn't leave an impression that Wilderun needed to fix anything.

With that said, I do thing that Sleep at the Edge of the Earth is a slight step down from the debut but that's really no big issue; truly outstanding records like Olden Tales & Deathly Trails are always incredibly tough acts to follow and if Sleep at the Edge of the Earth were only half as good as it then we'd still be talking about a successful follow-up. But this isn't only half as good, it's much better than that.

The album opens in a similar manner to its predecessor with the short intro track Dust and Crooked Thoughts before moving into a four part suite of tracks known as Ash Memory. Though broken up into parts, it's effectively a near twenty minute piece that showcases a wide range of Wilderun's different sounds, from soft acoustic folk passages, epic symphonic parts, to extreme metal sections. The rest of the album features three reasonable long tracks between approximately the eight and eleven minute marks, followed by another short track to close. If there's a notable difference to the overall vibe of the album though compared to Olden Tales & Deathly Trails it's that the folk elements have a less lively and more subdued feel to them this time, which may not seem a lot when put on paper but changes the dynamic of Wilderun's music a fair bit to my ears, enough to give Sleep at the Edge of the Earth its own identity. The whole album is like one big highlight that deserves to be listened to from start to finish without interruptions but I guess if I need to namedrop one specific track then I'd be leaning towards The Garden of Fire. A good track for newcomers to first experience the band I think.

I may prefer their debut, but Sleep at the Edge of the Earth is a very satisfying follow-up from Wilderun, leaving no feelings of disappointment that it isn't quite as good. One of the best records I've heard so far from 2015. 4.5 stars.