{"id":27122,"date":"2013-08-28T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T21:13:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T20:13:35","slug":"album-review-atlas-empire-somnus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Atlas : Empire &#8211; Somnus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_inline_mrub63bAXo1qz4rgp.jpg\" alt=\"image\" title=\"\"><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong>Atlas : Empire<\/strong> return with their second EP \u2018<em>Somnus\u2019,\u00a0<\/em> showcasing their progressive rock in true form. The five-track release blends a variety of elements and boasts a journey just short of 25 minutes, with each track exploring the band\u2019s talents in real depth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">From the tranquillity of opener \u2018<em>Keep This In The Shallows\u2019,\u00a0<\/em>to the edgier \u2018<em>Mitchy Valentino Sleeps With The Fishes\u2019,\u00a0<\/em><strong>Atlas : Empire <\/strong>take an experimental approach and create ambience right where it\u2019s needed. The varied vocal structures throughout the EP are admirable, transitioning between soft and chilling to harsher vocals dependent on the mood of the track. With a large section of instrumental focus in \u2018<em>In The Arms Of The Abyss\u2019,<\/em> you find yourself getting lost within the melodies; the guitars are soft and elegant, expressing character throughout the record and there\u2019s a real hint of emotion that oozes through this track in particular.<!-- more --><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Rooting back to the chilling ambience that <strong>Atlas : Empire <\/strong>initially showcased, \u2018<em>Somnus\u2019 <\/em>presents \u2018<em>\u2026Off The Map\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018<em>Binary Lung\u2019.\u00a0<\/em>Displaying soothing harmonies in the former of these two tracks, the band add to their haunting presence and continue to express true musicianship and musical ability.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Admittedly it took a few listens to fully appreciate \u2018<em>Somnus\u2019,\u00a0<\/em>but once you do hit that stage then you realise that <strong>Atlas : Empire <\/strong>are onto something pretty special. For a second EP, \u2018<em>Somnus\u2019 <\/em>is most impressive and if these guys keep on this path then it could reap them success. If you like Oceansize, Deftones and At The Drive In then there\u2019s no doubt that you will be charmed by the ways of <strong>Atlas : Empire<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">4\/5<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u2018<em>Somnus\u2019 <\/em>by <strong>Atlas : Empire <\/strong>is out now on\u00a0<strong>Cold War Legacy Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong>Atlas : Empire <\/strong>links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/atlasempire?fref=ts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AtlasEmpireUK\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/atlasempire.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Hannah Gillicker (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HannahGillicker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@HannahGillicker<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atlas : Empire return with their second EP \u2018Somnus\u2019,\u00a0 showcasing their progressive rock in true form. The five-track release blends a variety of elements and boasts a journey just short of 25 minutes, with each track exploring the band\u2019s talents in real depth. From the tranquillity of opener \u2018Keep This In The Shallows\u2019,\u00a0to the edgier [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,11913,11914,15036,11915],"class_list":["post-27122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-atlas-empire","tag-cold-war-legacy-records","tag-hannah-gillicker","tag-somnus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Album Review: Atlas : Empire - Somnus - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Atlas : Empire return with their second EP \u2018Somnus\u2019,\u00a0 showcasing their progressive rock in true form. The five-track release blends a variety of elements\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review: Atlas : Empire - Somnus - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Atlas : Empire return with their second EP \u2018Somnus\u2019,\u00a0 showcasing their progressive rock in true form. The five-track release blends a variety of elements\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-28T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-18T20:13:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_inline_mrub63bAXo1qz4rgp.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Album Review: Atlas : Empire - Somnus - Already Heard Staging","description":"Atlas : Empire return with their second EP \u2018Somnus\u2019,\u00a0 showcasing their progressive rock in true form. The five-track release blends a variety of elements","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Album Review: Atlas : Empire - Somnus - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"Atlas : Empire return with their second EP \u2018Somnus\u2019,\u00a0 showcasing their progressive rock in true form. The five-track release blends a variety of elements","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2013-08-28T14:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-18T20:13:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_inline_mrub63bAXo1qz4rgp.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3"},"headline":"Album Review: Atlas : Empire &#8211; Somnus","datePublished":"2013-08-28T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-18T20:13:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/"},"wordCount":297,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_inline_mrub63bAXo1qz4rgp.jpg","keywords":["Album Reviews","Atlas : Empire","Cold War Legacy Records","Hannah Gillicker","Somnus"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews","Post"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/","name":"Album Review: Atlas : Empire - Somnus - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_inline_mrub63bAXo1qz4rgp.jpg","datePublished":"2013-08-28T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-18T20:13:35+00:00","description":"Atlas : Empire return with their second EP \u2018Somnus\u2019,\u00a0 showcasing their progressive rock in true form. The five-track release blends a variety of elements","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-atlas-empire-somnus\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_inline_mrub63bAXo1qz4rgp.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_inline_mrub63bAXo1qz4rgp.jpg","width":150,"height":150},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27122"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98937,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27122\/revisions\/98937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}