{"id":763056,"date":"2026-09-07T16:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T16:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/763056\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T16:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T16:58:12","slug":"season-of-melancholy-in-sleep-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/763056\/","title":{"rendered":"Season of Melancholy – In Sleep Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I\u2019m on a romantic music kick lately, and who can really say why. It\u2019s always been a flavor that I crave deeply in the music I frequent, but so often that craving is left unsatisfied or only partially sated. But Ukrainian goth rock\/post punk quintet Season of Melancholy aren\u2019t about to let me go before giving me everything I want, right? Bleeding hearts, sultry melodies, stories of heartbreak and of yearning, and dark atmospheres supported by bouncy tunes have been a part of their sound since inception over a decade ago. With one LP under their belt so far, follow-up In Sleep promises even sharper hooks, bigger choruses, and crunchier tones. Can they make me swoon?<\/p>\n

After a slew of singles to foreshadow the release of In Sleep, a clear focus on accessibility and immediacy sharpens. Bridging the gaps between Mana-era Unto Others<\/a>, AFI, Dead or Alive, and HIM, Season of Melancholy balance downtuned guitars with bright synths, danceable beats and a sultry baritone that stirs the loins. These are songs that could easily break into the charts but still maintain a dark character, and strategically placed metallic heft helps attract fans of harder music. A few instances of native Ukrainian make an appearance, though I would have loved to hear more as it meshes beautifully with this sound. On the production front, In Sleep is modern\u2014perhaps too polished\u2014and quite loud. That said, it boasts a balanced, bassy mix and isn\u2019t so cluttered with instrumentation that its paltry dynamic range causes too much stress on my ears.<\/p>\n

In Sleep by Season of Melancholy<\/a><\/p>\n

At a tight 43 minutes, In Sleep gets in and gets out, but not without leaving you breathing heavy from dancing all night long first. High-energy romps \u201cInmate,\u201d \u201cKeep the Night,\u201d \u201c\u0422.\u0418.\u0427.\u0418.\u042f.,\u201d \u201cWay Out,\u201d and \u201cDown in Rage\u201d bring metallic tones to the dancefloor, fortified by choruses so sticky in the moment that they might pull your shoes right off your feet. Though this material isn\u2019t chock full of shreddy solos or boisterous riffs, pumping chugs and a clanky bass tone still move mountains as they groove and shove their way in between that buttery smooth baritone. Fun synthy incidentals embellish songs like \u201cFarewell Song,\u201d \u201cGhost,\u201d and \u201cBorn in Lies\u201d to offset their more mid-paced amble and create points of interest in spaces that would otherwise feel sparse and unfinished. And, while some of these songs are already a few years old, In Sleep is remarkably cohesive without feeling too repetitive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That said, there is a strange sense of monotony that creeps in after multiple spins. Avoiding the dreaded pit of self-plagiarism by a thin hair, Season of Melancholy\u2019s songwriting carries a consistent ABABCB structure that almost never shifts or shuffles. There\u2019s a lot a band can do even inside that restricted chain to bring high heat to the affair, and any kind of exploration outside of it brings out more flavor, novelty, and excitement\u2014both things that In Sleep lacks to varying degrees. As such, this record slots comfortably alongside releases from the aforementioned comparison points, but takes the safest route to get there. Consequently, most of the material presented here outside of a few of its best moments aren\u2019t going to make it to long-term rotation.<\/p>\n

Still, In Sleep offers good, clean fun to audiences looking for something easily digestible and universally approachable. It\u2019s heavy and chunky enough to earn the favor of metalheads unbothered by accessibility or poppy sensibility, too. However, it\u2019s safe, derivative of many of its peers\/influences, and lacks staying power. Were it blessed with more adventurous structures or bolstered by a wide array of hooky riffs or other substantial instrumental spotlights, In Sleep would\u2019ve earned a much higher score. As it is, it\u2019s worth a listen or two and its best songs feel right at home on playlist duty. Whether it goes farther than that depends on the listener, and mileage may vary.<\/p>\n

Rating: Mixed
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb\/s mp3
Label: Self Release
Websites: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: September 4th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m on a romantic music kick lately, and who can really say why. It\u2019s always been a flavor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[13410,47816,252036,222372,96,29433,252037,89073,4671,252038,128,19448,263,129,252039,13420,250565,56,252040,54,55,95265],"class_list":["post-763056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-2-5","tag-47816","tag-afi","tag-dead-or-alive","tag-entertainment","tag-gothic-metal","tag-gothic-rock","tag-hard-rock","tag-him","tag-in-sleep","tag-music","tag-post-punk","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-season-of-melancholy","tag-self-release","tag-sep26","tag-uk","tag-ukranian-metal","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-unto-others"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}