Revered purveyors of emotive doom, My Silent Wake, have returned, bearing with them their twelfth full length album, “Lost In Memories, Lost In Grief”. Despite featuring some of the heaviest, most intense music that the band have ever recorded, this new testament to their enduring creative powers also draws upon the strange magic that has infused their recent acoustic, folkloric albums – adding something richly organic and steeped in a sense of history to its entrancing elixir of sound. The result is an album which burns with a new, vibrant energy beneath the customary mantle of melancholic majesty, an album that shows My Silent Wake still forging ahead and crafting some of the most affecting and dramatic music imaginable.
“Lost In Memories, Lost In Grief” impresses immediately with the multi-faceted opener, “The Liar And The Fool” which traverses an array of musical territories from the haunting and reflective to the driving and dynamic. It’s the perfect precursor for the incredible journey that follows, through the uniquely characterful “Lavender Garden” with its superb vocal performances and impressive lead guitar work, the epic, heart-rending beauty of “The Last Lullaby” which shifts from movement to movement with an almost otherworldly elegance and the staggering, gargantuan “No Time” which is daunting and inspiring in equal measure, conjuring memories both real and imagined. And these are just a selection of highlights, with a multitude of other secrets, betrayals and broken hearts lying in the darkness in between. “Lost In Memories, Lost In Grief” is a truly phenomenal album of breathtaking scope and ambition, with each note and word imbued with absolute, unwavering sincerity.
Recorded, mixed and mastered at Priory Recording Studios by Greg Chandler (Alunah, Officium Triste, Serpent Cult etc) and at Hollow Hearth by the band’s own Simon Bibby, “Lost In Memories, Lost In Grief” possesses an enthralling depth of sound, from which an array of nuances and layers emerge every time the listener sinks beneath its limpid waters. When Ardua Music unveil this masterpiece of sombre, reflective metal on May 3rd “Lost In Memories, Lost In Grief” is sure to be hailed not only as My Silent Wake’s greatest achievement to date, but as one of doom metal’s crowning glories.
