ALBUM REVIEW: Wayfarer, "World's Blood"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 25/05/2018

Label: Profound Lore Records

On “World’s Blood” Wayfarer rises to be more transcendent than many of its contemporaries in the execution of its new album and overall there is so much to appreciate on this Colorado act's return.  "World's Blood" is a dazzling listen

“World’s Blood” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Animal Crown
2. On Horseback They Carried Thunder
3. The Crows Ahead Cry War
4. The Dreaming Plain
5. A Nation Of Immigrants

The Review:

The beauty and bestial of black metal is that it is today an expansive metal subgenre. At its best, there is something truly gauzy, conceptually original and aurally memorable records. However, there is plenty on the scene that is at times too derivative (first wave throwback movements, anyone?), audacious and over-the-top in a way that can mask musical deficiencies. Goat and pentagram iconography, and too much flourish – literal and figurative – on song titles and imagery, can only carry any band so far. In its most cringeworthy moments, there are more than a few unintentional parodies of black metal.

Fortunately enough, Wayfarer rises to be more transcendent than many of its contemporaries in the execution of its new album, "World's Blood."

The Denver band has been reliable thus far in its output, producing an LP every two years or so. 2014's "Children of the Iron Age" was well received by fans and critics. There might have been a touch too much self-importance early on. Folk and atmospheric metal together can be a bit tiring at turns. And the overlong tracks and intricate storytelling may have felt out of place at first. As you settle in with the band, though, you get a strong sense that Wayfarer is devoted to creating an experience. There are many bands that arguably try to do the same. Wayfarer's iconoclastic approach deserves a deeper look, though.

On "World's Blood," Wayfarer provides a sound informed by a mélange of styles. Black metal, doom and hints of sludge are central to the album. What makes it most fascinating, though, is identifying the disparate inspirations. "Animal Crown" begins the recording with a flash of spaghetti Western romp. There's immediacy to the noisier guitars and rhythm section as the first track builds, with a pained vocal wafting just above it all. The liner notes remark of how the band sought to represent aptly the Western frontier that is part of its experience. Inescapable to that tale is a picture of loss. Rarely has it been so stunningly felt.

The band excels when its orchestration reaches an almost polyrhythmic instance on songs like "On Horseback They Carried Thunder." What feels at first like chaos rewards you as the song crests into a beautiful hybrid of black metal, where pensive pacing strains just below the surface. Where it once drew out tracks possibly a bit too much, Wayfarer's selection and overall production this time offer a new focus. This attention to little things as well as major arcs makes for a more sophisticated album than ever before. With "The Crows Ahead Cry War," thundering drums threaten from a distance. The balance between measured and frenzied is a gorgeous tension you feel again and again on "World's Blood."

That flume of shot-a-man-in-Reno dirty Americana vibe peeks its head out at the start of "The Dreaming Plain," before laying waste into a mad sound space. "A Nation of Immigrants" flits past this inspiration too, in a divergent manner. In all, "World's Blood" is a dazzling listen. One of their best? That's up to longtime fans to judge, but undoubtedly there is so much to appreciate in the Colorado act's return.

“World’s Blood” is available here

Band info: facebook|| bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Grave Lines, “Fed Into The Nihilist Engine"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 04/05/2018

Label: New Heavy Sounds

Grave Lines demonstrates irrefutable growth, confidence and deftness with a palette of emotional peaks and valleys.

“Fed Into The Nihilist Engine” CD//DD//2LP track listing:

1). Failed Skin

2). Shame/Retreat

3). Self Mutilation by Fire and Stone

4). Loss/Betrayal

5). Silent Salt

6). Loathe/Displace

7). The Greae

8). Guilt/Regret

9). The Nihilist Engine

The Review:

The United Kingdom's doom masters Grave Lines smashed their way onto the scene in 2016 with its "Welcome to Nothing," a debut that reveled in its sweltering power – blistering drums courtesy of Julia Owen, Jake Harding's disparate vocal attack and a style that puts a noise/sludge pace on you that would make Vasyl Lomachenko himself proud. And, happily, the band is back with "Fed Into The Nihilist Engine," a rugged return if ever there was one.

Grave Lines is intriguing because of its changeups. "Failed Skin," the album's 14-plus-minute opener, is by far the longest cut, and it is melting as it is impregnable. Don't let its gentle, loping opening chords fool you. As the bass kicks in, Harding descends from the heavens, with his punctuated and flaring vocals that rattle you out of your slumber. That clarity of voice carries on to "Shame Retreat," an ethereal song that makes the most of its strengths.

Grave Lines is unctuous with its heavy tracks, which slosh in hardcore influences, such as "Self Mutilation by Fire and Stone." You also witness promise with its gracefully constructed folk-tinged songs like "Loss Betrayal" and "Loathe Displace." The sharper among us might ask if the group is pining to be a metal team or more a hard rock band with departures like this. And in fairness there may be some attention to album arrangement, or else it becomes heavy-to-lighter-to-heavy-to-lighter song, rinse and repeat. Nevertheless the tracks themselves are strong, devouring your ears and imagination.

Now into its second album, Grave Lines demonstrates irrefutable growth, confidence and deftness with a palette of emotional peaks and valleys. As "The Nihilist Engine" closes out the album, it is impossible to avoid the many paths before the group, as well as one's own curiosity for what's next.

“Fed Into The Nihilist Engine” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Yob, "Our Raw Heart"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 08/06/2018

Label: Relapse Records

Clever arrangement, subtlety over volume and a clear-eyed grasp of honing an atmosphere make these cuts inviting in myriad ways. They're the kind of songs that give you a front-row seat for Yob's past meeting its future, and you cannot help but be transfixed.

“Our Raw Heart” CD//CS//DD//2LP track listing:

1). Ablaze

2). The Screen

3). In Reverie

4). Lungs Reach

5). Beauty In Falling Leaves

6). Original Face

7). Our Raw Heart

                     

The Review:

Yob has emerged as perhaps doom's most popular band of the moment, though the band's presence has hardly been momentary. Since 2002's "Elaborations of Carbon," the Eugene, Oregon-based collective have stoked a passionate fan base. Its albums have gotten progressively stronger as Yob's sound has matured. "The Illusion of Motion," released by Metal Blade in 2004, and "The Unreal Never Lived" offered up the following year, were considered watermarks for the group. Yob's 2006 breakup did not last too long. Its return in the form of "The Great Cessation" was greeted with much praise for a deeper, denser aural than ever before.

And so it has gone. Solid but infrequent albums and lots of live performances became an unfortunate drought of about four years. "Clearing the Path to Ascend" in 2014 was a stunning record, one that vaulted Yob even higher. Without question, the band has been consistent in its growth and overall quality. "…Ascend" helped the group's mythos only expand.

"Our Raw Heart," has already won plaudits from across the spectrum. For good reason. Yob's return is magnificent. Yet it's outstanding not because it's heavy. It is, somewhat, but "Our Raw Heart" succeeds because it is visionary, emotional and more innovative than virtually every single one of Yob's contemporaries. It's a great album because it sounds wholly atypical of what you think of metal, yet it is quintessentially metal.

Yob's newest is influenced by Mike Scheidt's brush with death in 2017. He nearly succumbed to an infection created by complications related to other problems, but it is not the first time the band's spiritual leader has looked over the abyss with his tribe. Fans of "…Ascend" and other albums may have most loved Scheidt's vulnerability, and his examination of his own mental health issues and other struggles in his songwriting and performances. Thus it is fitting that "Our Raw Heart" would beckon this tattered brother- and sisterhood into Scheidt's world one more time. And, as you may have heard on "The Screen," released just before the album, there's going to be pain. "Sensing old death, sharing no house with it," Scheidt muses. "In moments obscure, that which endures."

That’s part about being somewhat heavy? Truth be told, Yob will never be a pop band and are not abandoning the wall of sound the band so masterfully creates. Those tense moments as in "The Screen" (tightly wound in its own right, surely) are paired with all-out harsher tracks such as "In Reverie," with some of the cascading, volume-notched heavy music you will hear in a minute. "Original Face" in another one of those songs certain to remind you how hard Yob can bring its music, and why their creativity in doing it is so revered. Clever arrangement, subtlety over volume and a clear-eyed grasp of honing an atmosphere make these cuts inviting in myriad ways. They're the kind of songs that give you a front-row seat for Yob's past meeting its future, and you cannot help but be transfixed.

What may end up etched in your own heart, however, are the more delicate, complex songs. "Lungs Reach" lolls gently out of the mist, as wisps of guitar and then that challenging voice come for you. "Beauty in Falling Leaves" glances by with affirmative chords that lead you to a valley of despondent rhythms, until it soars with Scheidt's inimitable vocal. By the time the album closes with the title track, a 14-minute cohesive yet inescapably macabre centerpiece, you learn slowly that this is why Yob has fashioned an arc of almost mythological proportions. Greater than most, more dynamic than more, "Our Raw Heart" is what makes metal you cannot but love.

“Our Raw Heart” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Cult of Occult, "Anti-Life"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 01/06/2018

Label: Music Fear Satan

Haunted vocals and a primordial stew of drums and effects make this an experience like few others. Heavy, undoubtedly, but also complex their latest recording, is among their strongest, with a stifling density sure to draw doom devotees' attention.

“Anti-Life” CD//DD//2LP track listing:

1). AL

2). NI

3). TF

4). IE

The Review:

That olden creak of the bass, drum rhythms painted black and bombastic guitars deliver the sound that is as familiar as it is beloved. In the case of Cult of Occult, it is also a welcome return.

The French sludge band has had a prolific career, with six releases since 2012. "Anti-Life," their latest recording, is among their strongest, with a stifling density sure to draw doom devotees' attention.

Their 2011 self-titled album is a good look at what makes Cult of Occult so formidable. Its Full of Hell-style crushing layers of volume and meandering riffs have long been part of the band's arsenal. When it premiered the 12-minute "NI" earlier in the year, the slowed down feel gave Cult of Occult's particular approach a sort of burn that is a treat as it is a trudge. The track possesses a kind of torment that a great sludge song can do, with paralyzing rhythms and, as here, its contemptuous chords that soar just over your head. It was a fine introduction to the new sounds the band has cooked up, and it gets better across the four-track, nearly 60-minute recording.

"AL" begins the album with a searing atmosphere. It takes a little patience, though, as the track goes in for more than two of its 15 minutes before the music picks up. Once the song gets moving, however, it comes surging forward with intense guitar and pressure cooker bass. The lo-fi, thick tempo of the opener sets an assertive tone for the album. "NI," the second cut, was a steely introduction to the album, but "AL" delivers on its promise.

"TF" builds off of "NI" with more of that multi-dimensional blend of sound – venomous bass work and blown-out guitars carve out a bruising pace, in the most lugubrious fashion imaginable. Haunted vocals and a primordial stew of drums and effects make this an experience like few others. Heavy, undoubtedly, but also complex in its arrangement and a great experience for doom and sludge fans looking for more than plodding riffs and songs about dwarves. Similarly, "IE" continues this nagging dread composed throughout "Anti-Life," with a sedated tenor that spirals into some of Cult of Occult's best departures.

Seldom can a band doing this style create something original with this level of output. However, Cult of Occult succeeds at making an album with a dark opalescence that rises above expectations.

“Anti-Life” is available here

Band info: facebook || bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Nibiru, "Netrayoni" (2018)

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length (Reissue)

Date Released: 25/05/2018

Label: Argonauta Records

Vocal treatments, humming effects and elements you rarely hear in sludge decorate the exteriors everywhere. The heart of these songs is firmly in the doom/sludge camp, but this iteration of Nibiru was fearless in an atypical fashion when it came to experimentation

“Netrayoni” 2CD//DD track listing:

1). Kshanika mukta

2). Apsara

3). Sekhet aahru

4). Qaa-om sapah

5). Arkashani

6). Kwaw-loon

7). Sekhmet

8). Celeste samsara is broken

9). Viparita karani

10). Sothis

11). Carma geta

The Review:

Italian sludge trio Nibiru released last year's "Qaal Babylon" to some acclaim. The dense atmosphere and ambitious orchestration made it one of the strongest recordings in its discography. With interest up, its label has seen fit to remaster and reissue the band's second album, "Netrayoni." The results are as good as you might anticipate.

The reissue catches the sludge gods at some of their wilder best. "Netrayoni" got favorable reviews when it came out four years ago. It is a record that has held up quite well.

Nibiru's superpower has always been doing uncommon music. Its thick arrangements always have a flourish of something different. That is great for metal connoisseurs who will not be satisfied with just glacial chords, and want a new take on the music. The band is also apt to challenge its fans, as it does in the forbidding 11-minute opener "Kshanika mukta." A noise infused track, it's a step back a few years to what a slowed down version of The Body may have grilled in its backyard. There are syncopated guitars with distortion and quirky vocals. However, songs like "Apsara" and "Sekhet aahru" offer the traditional sludge as only Nibiru can do.

This album was released in 2014, when drummer Siatris was still with the band. Those who came to the group with "Qaal Babylon" may notice delicate divergences. L.C. Chertan was behind the kit for the last record, and the playing there was measured and quite deliberate at turns. "Netrayoni" sees a more ragged style take hold, which works for the record, particular on winding, freakier, more progressive cuts such as "Celeste samsara is broken." On the other hand, it is surely a ponderous matter to hear what the 16-minute "Kwaw-loon" might have become if Chertan had been on the original recording. Nibiru's delivery is nevertheless stunning.

If you are a newer fan, be aware this album is a departure. Vocal treatments, humming effects and elements you rarely hear in sludge decorate the exteriors everywhere. The heart of these songs is firmly in the doom/sludge camp, but this iteration of Nibiru was fearless in an atypical fashion when it came to experimentation. By all means, the current formation remains excellent. However, with "Netrayoni," you are sure to discover layers to the trio you may have missed on its last album. In all, this diversity is only going to make you love what they do all the more.

“Netrayoni” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Iron Void, "Excalibur"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 25/05/2018 (Digital)

Label: Shadow Kingdom Records

"Excalibur" is going to win over a lot of classic doom fanatics. Iron Void should be on the radar of the scene for a revivalism that it owns wholly and proudly.

“Excalibur” CS//CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Dragon’s Breath

2). The Coming of a King

3). Lancelot of the Lake

4). Forbidden Love

5). Enemy Within

6). The Grail Quest

7). A Dream to Some, A Nightmare to Others

8). The Death of Arthur

9). Avalon

The Review:

Veteran doom peddlers Iron Void have had plenty of fits and starts over their career. After forming in 1998, the band disbanded for a decade before roaring back with a vengeance, dropping 2010's "Spell of Ruin," 2014's "Iron Void" and "Doomsday" in 2015. Now at their creative peak, Shadow Kingdom Records will issue the European vinyl of "Excalibur," Iron Void's Arthurian themed nine-song release tracking at just over 45 minutes.

Vinyl has been the financial shot in the arm to the music industry that few ever expected to make the comeback it has. Partially such success can be credited to bands like Iron Void. "Excalibur" offers rich, earthy sonics that seem made for wax. As the LP kicks off with "Dragon's Breath," Iron Void is inescapably catchy as it is dense. The band is also deceptively elegant in how its songs are constructed; the Sabbathesque "The Coming of A King" boasts a holistic duty to the story it's telling, while not breaking the power of the song itself, its guitar or rhythm section. Thus, lyrics inject themselves into just the right points, while not interfering with the structure of the cut. You hear similar instances on "Forbidden Love" as well.

Those who love fantasy in metal are going to appreciate the story immensely. Without spoiling anything, just know that Iron Void set out and succeed at telling an effecting tale. The vocals throughout are quintessential doom and even transcendent at turns. As the album builds, it is impossible not to be swept up in how massive the sound comes across.

In addition, what doom and sludge devotees may most appreciate with "Excalibur" is its fidelity to providing a new varnish to classic doom in the vein of Saint Vitus, Pentagram and the like. As you know, there's been a major renaissance in the old-school sound of black metal and death metal, hastened surely by the number of derivative bands in more modern takes on these subgenres. Doom, stoner and sludge undoubtedly have these bands as well – The Sword may have been the most popular and prescient of the revamp – and Iron Void stakes its flag admirably. Even songs like "Enemy Within," with clear influences from "Electric Funeral," feel rejuvenated and original. Iron Void deserve a lot of credit for having the courage to make an album that is inevitably going to draw tons of comparisons, yet doing so in a way that feels like a modern makeover of doom metal. Steve Wilson's riffs are heavy, Iron Void's lyrical themes are solidly mystical and medieval, and its ultra-thick drums by Richard Maw and bass by Jonathan "Sealey" Seale compose a ridiculously good foundation for it all.

"Excalibur" is going to win over a lot of classic doom fanatics. Iron Void should be on the radar of the scene for a revivalism that it owns wholly and proudly.

“Excalibur” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Behemoth, "Messe Noire"

 By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length (Live)

Date Released: 13/04/2018

Label: Nuclear Blast

The group's performances are frenzied, the production is sterling and with a crystal clear sound thoughout, this makes “Messe Noire” a real pleasure to experience

“Messe Noise” CD//DD//2LP track listing:

1. Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel (6:33)

2. Furor Divinus (3:21)

3. Messe Noire (4:41)

4. Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer (6:20)

5. Amen (3:54)

6. The Satanist (6:35)

7. Ben Sahar (5:32)

8. In The Absence Ov Light (4:54)

9. O Father O Satan O Sun! (8:45)

The Review:

Now playing dates as part of Slayer's farewell tour, Poland's Behemoth could well be argued to be the heir apparent to the thrash kings' crown. While clearly the music is different, Behemoth's infernal songsmithing makes it a better fit than most. Paired with a long, ignoble history and you have a strong case to be made.

Although Behemoth has many touchstone albums to its credit, its tenth release, 2014's “The Satanist”, is easily near the top of its discography. It is the release from whence classics like "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" and "O Father, O Satan, O Sun" came. Moreover it was regarded by critics as a return to form after potentially uneven works just before. Behemoth's new album, “Messe Noire”, is, in fact, a live concert recording of “The Satanist” in full.

If you have never caught Behemoth live, do yourself a favor and watch some of the concerts – especially those in its native land – on YouTube. The group's frenzied performances are only matched by their enthusiastic audiences. “Messe Noire” captures Behemoth exceptionally well, even without the visuals.

From "Gabriel," the album's open, into the buzzsaw guitars of "Furor Divinus" and the title track, it is evident Behemoth is all in on the live aspect. The additional singers, symphonic elements and builds presented on “The Satanist” are replicated live and do not lose much luster on the audio version ("Messe Noire" has also been released on video format).

Since 1995's "Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic)," Behemoth has cultivated a rabid fan base, one enthralled by its colorful imagery and history as well as its sound. Indeed, as the band's focal point, Adam "Nergal" Darski has a connection to these supporters that is uncommon even within metal. From his health difficulties – including a brief hiatus due to leukemia – and outspoken advocacy of Satanism, Nergal's intensely personal story is hewn from the cloth from which all the great rock music histories are cut. Where some bands prefer complete anonymity, Behemoth and Nergal's openness has proven the old maxim: people want something with which they can identify. You feel identification through "Messe Noire." The live version of "Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer" has such weight, as you hear the crowd toward its close on into "Amen."

The production on "Messe Noire" is sterling throughout. The sound quality is crystal clear and the audience noise never overwhelms the stage show. This makes songs like "The Satanist" and "O Father" a real pleasure to experience.  Chances are, Behemoth fans have already picked up this April release. However, if you're a metal devotee who has dug Behemoth for any length of time, you'll be well served to pick up "Messe Noire" in its audio or video formats.

“Messe Noise” is available here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Garganjua, "Through The Void"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 11/05/2018

Label: Holy Roar Records

“Through The Void” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Crushed Beneath the Tide

2. Adrift

3. Through the Void

4. A Distant Shore

The Review:

English progressive doom trio Garganjua came onto the scene not too long ago with fresh paint on a time-honored sound, to much conversation. Garganjua does a prog-infused stoner blend that is profoundly complex. While sounding familiar, there are many elements that are largely unexampled – languid chords that are more diverse than the standard stoner playbook, breakdowns that offer expansive arrangements that are mirthlessly heavy, and song compositions with three-part vocals that stay in a space where they manage to be long enough to tell a story without feeling bloated and exasperating. The band's debut EP "Trip Wizard" was well received when it came out in 2014. The 2016 full length, "A Voyage in Solitude," saw growing buzz for the young crew. The band closed out 2017 by announcing this four-song, 45-minute return.

"Crushed Beneath the Tide" launches Garganjua's newest. Its vibe is a forewarning of the forthcoming cuts, with a lingering build and formidable bass assault by way of Gareth Owen. At 12 minutes, this is an adventurous opener, but Garganjua keep your attention with a mix of clean singing and rawer vocals. Later on, the lyrical divergence pays off quite handsomely. "Adrift" relies on power chords to set the scene, before cresting on a slab of drums courtesy of Benjamin Weston, and devastating vocals. While shorter, it is one of the better cuts off the release.

In the title track, it becomes clear that Garganjua are a quartet that is trying to submerge themselves into new places with its music. This song feels more emotional and purposeful, a moody opening, into a clean and not-clean crescendo, then rolling into a valley of guitars. The song is a small detour as far as what Garganjua normally does, and it is a welcome shift. Now three records in, the band seems to be evolving in this regard. "Through the Void" as a song goes into some progressive metal riffage and pacing, for the better. As the track concludes, you have to appreciate Garganjua for being willing to expand what you know of them.

The album ends with "A Distant Shore," a more proggy conclusion of an engaging return. Here you will find the guitar work by Scott Taylor and Gazz Chambers is at its finest, creating an atmosphere that is vast and unfathomable. The first two cuts on this release are solidly stoner through and through, but it's the last two tracks that prompts you to consider what Garganjua can mature into. "A Distant Shore" is quite serene for the most part, but offers you something bolder as the song continues – its dirge is special compared to Garganjua's catalog. Where the group goes is anyone's guess, but this album is a powerful reflection of what Garganjua is and can become.

"Through The Void" is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: My Silent Wake, "There Was Death"

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.

“There Was Death” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook