This album was released mid-ish 2009 I think.  I downloaded it legitmately for free using the bandit.fm promotion with Pepsi & Bluebird earlier this year.

I wasn’t expecting anything amazing as the only other studio albums they’ve released in the last 15 years, Sea Of Light and Sonic Origami, were respectable efforts without a whole lot of high points (one notable exception being on the latter, the opening track Between Two Worlds).   There is a compilation called Golden Palace which brings together generally the best tracks on those two albums, plus a track that was originally a Jap bonus I think.  Anyway I digress…

Wake The Sleeper is very impressive for a band that has been around 40 years.  Probably a bit heavier than they’ve been before, which to compete in the hard rock scene thesedays is probably what you need to do, as heavy gets redefined pretty much every decade or so.  Alice Cooper has been very astute at cranking up the heavy factor over the years – most notably Brutal Planet which remains my favourite of his.

Oops I digress again, so back to Heep.  Band membership has changed a fair bit but Mick Box has been there from the start, bassist Trevor Bolder has a very respectable pedigree not to mention being in Heep for the vast majority of the years since 1976, and Bernie Shaw has been the longest serving vocalist.  As an aside Bernie performed vocals on a cover of Iron Maiden‘s Fear Of The Dark (title track) which is on one of the plethora of Maiden tributes out there.

In short, check out Wake The Sleeper if you are into that sort of keyboard-laced hard rock and clean vocals!  It’s a very good and diverse album that sounds fresh despite the bands roots being decades ago.