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'scurrent 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 Wakedoes 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 Wakeat 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