Artist: PICTORIAL WAND
Album: A SLEEP'S AWAKENING (2CD)

Release date: 2006
Media type: CD

It was started in 2003 by Mattis Sorum, and it has taken him three years to complete his debut-album A Sleeperґs Awakening(double-cd). It is a one-man-project where all the musicians are hired in especially for this album, except the guitars, the synthesizers and the organ which is played by Mattis himself. The music is grand and complex in the instrumentation, and strong melodies plays an important role in the compositions. Many of the songs are pretty long and there are many compositional relationships to bind it all together. The voice of the main character is male, but the vocals are decorated all the way through by three different female-voices. The music goes from very heavy passages to lyrical acoustic themes, and contains a lot of symphonic instruments and analogue synths. With the symphonic orchestra and the analogue synths already mentioned we hear solistic melodies of the flute, cello, oboe and the violin.

TRACKLIST CD 1:

1. Prolog 3:16
2. The King & His Land 6:41
3. The Gate of Lost Souls 4:43
4. The Path of Thorns 5:28
5. In Shadow 11:06
6. Broken Glass 7:23
7. A Wandering in the Dark 3:41
8. The Beast Within 10:06
9. Corrosion of Flesh 7:21

TRACKLIST CD 2:

1. Retrospective Visions 4:24
2. Red Sunset & a Drowning Fly 9:14
3. The Golden Path 7:46
4. Warning Not Heard 11:12
5. The Temptress of Unchastity 7:03
6. A Sleeper's Awakening 9:50
7. Pensiveness 2:55

LINE-UP:

Mattis Sorum - guitars, el. sitar; organs, keyboards
Tomas Di Sansimone - drums
Idar Eidsaune - bass
Per Christian Jorstad - cello
Synne Teiseth Norbeck - flute
Petter Selliseth - lead vocals

With:
Paal Selsjord Bjrseth - piano, harpsichord
Gry Tronslien - vocals
Ingrid Strid - vocals
Lise Granden Berg - vocals
Eva Marianne Olsson - vocals