By: Ernesto Aguilar
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 24/02/2018
Label: Minotauro Records
Whether it
goes for the unhinged metal overdrive, which it strikes at moments, or the more
auspicious, grinding approaches to its album, My Silent Wake has a method here.
Overall "There Was Death" is a sturdy and powerful album in a catalog
of one of UK metal's more intriguing acts.
“There Was Death” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1).
A Dying Man’s Wish
2).
Damnatio Memoriae
3).
Killing Flaw
4).
Ghosts of Parlous Lives
5).
Mourning the Loss of the Living
6).
There Was Death
7).
Walls Within Walls
8).
No End to Sorrow
9).
An End To Suffering
The Review:
Putting forth 10 albums in just over 13 years in
extreme music is quite a feat, yet My Silent Wake, a group
hewing a path of doom-steeped death metal, has managed to do what for most
performers is almost impossible. The UK stalwarts have return in 2018 with
"There Was Death," a worthy
chapter in their tenacious history.
Jaded listeners to the music might just stop at
death/doom. Like blackened doom, the quantity versus quality issue is a real
one. Where you will miss out is in the quintet's veteran chops. The group
experienced considerable turnover about eight years ago. My Silent Wake's
current lineup was not in fact fully realized until around 2013, when it issued
not one, but two, full-length albums ("Silver
Under Midnight" and "Preservation
Restoration Reconstruction"). However, its one constant,
guitarist/vocalist Ian Arkley, has succeeded at keeping things focused. The
assembled players make for a bit of a who's who in UK metal, including current
and former members of Amputated, Striga, Seventh Angel and Amaranth, among others. This sort of experience is, as you
might guess, helpful in keeping My Silent Wake, which
debuted in 2005, going strong even after founding members Alan Southorn (bass),
drummer Steve Allan and Andi Lee left the band in 2008, 2010 and 2011
respectively.
It is challenging to compare "There Was Death" to last year's
"Invitation to Imperfection."
With folkloric segues like "Pendulum"
and dreamlike prog songs such as "Helgar
Kindir" in the playlist, the new album is considerably heavier.
Opening with "A Dying Man's Wish,"
My Silent Wake rock a wrenching style of doom this go
around. As the similarly dense "Damnatio
Memoriae" begins, the biggest internal contradiction for the group
becomes more evident: is it a group inclined to more Paradise Lost-style
riffing or one doing low-boil seethers like these songs and the third cut,
"Killing Flaw"? Fair
enough that this can be both and for the record, My Silent Wake
does both styles exceedingly well. It is just difficult to trace where the
group is headed. Yet such is a minor preference to what is a solid start for
the album.
"Ghosts of
Perilous Lives" slows down "There
Was Death" with a deliciously uneasy plumbing of painful emotions and
a mesmerizing arrangement to carry the day. You will also experience some
clever orchestration in "Mourning
the Loss of the Living," with a plaintive yet present bass and a
forthright, resounding drum snap. The beauty in these songs is found in how the
group exudes a confidence to its music. Though you might be unsure what
direction My Silent Wake is headed, but clearly its
members do. Whether it goes for the unhinged metal overdrive, which it strikes
at moments, or the more auspicious, grinding approaches to its album, My Silent
Wake has a method here.
The album's final third is My Silent Wake
at its most meditative on this recording. The subtle effects that undergird the
ferocity of "Walls Within Walls"
offer an almost mystical quality to the song, as it builds to a churning
climax. The gentle strings and clean singing that begin "No End to Sorrow" clear the way
for a heavy lidded doom in the most classic form. With the recording's wrap,
"An End to Suffering," the
band files off the hard edges of previous cuts with a Middle Eastern flavored acoustic
flourish. Five minutes in, however, the song evolves into an almost symphonic
bridge, with backing vocals and a primordial stew of prog guitars and
smoldering bass. It's a beautiful ending, which might have benefitted by being
slightly tighter. Don't let that detract from the gorgeous arrangement,
however.
My Silent Wake deserves much credit for continuing to
hone its craft in spite of staffing changes and the march of time. Minor
improvements aside, "There Was Death"
is a sturdy and powerful album in a catalog of one of UK metal's more
intriguing acts.
