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The music of My Silent Wake is traditional and innovative at the same time,
and it will captivate every doom metal fan!
Their uncompromising attitude will also captivate metal admirers of every type!
The band and the musicians playing in it have a rich history. Will you share what are your main inspirations? Why did you choose exactly the doom metal gender? Ian: We have many and varied influences. All the songwriters in the band have very wide musical tastes which are also fairly similar to each other. Some key influences are: Trouble, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Dead Can Dance, Leonard Cohen and various death/doom, folk, Goth and rock bands. We didn't go out to choose a genre, but rather played what came naturally. There are no rules to what we play at all in this band.
I believe that in 'IV et Lux Perpetua' you have found your face more than ever. Is it true according to your point of view? Ian: I can see how that would seem. For us it was a case of creating a simpler and more compact release in accordance with the time constraints we had at the time. Our next album will go back to more instrumentation and we plan to take more time over it. I am pleased with the rawness of the new album and I think we will retain some of this next time.
You have announced a contest for the best translation of the title of your album from Latin to English. Why did you decide to name it in Latin? Is there any deeper idea? Kate: There were some really detailed answers to the competition and a couple of people came up with some interpretations that went way deeper than I could have thought of! They had clearly put a lot of thought into it. However, the reason I chose that particular Latin phrase was simply that it was just stuck in my head, and seemed to match the riff of the song well. It also seemed apt for some things that were going on in our lives at the time we were writing the songs, and fitted in with some lyrics that I was writing. We selected it as the album name because we were stuck for a title and thought it sounded good! The phrase just seemed to present itself at the right time.
You are touring together with different bands from the doom metal scene. You even played at a festival with the band reborn SEVENTH ANGEL. Please tell us about the scenes where you have felt most comfortable. Ian: We recently toured with In Vain and this went extremely well. It is not important to tour with other bands that are strictly doom as we have a lot of other elements to our sound. We have played many gigs with our friends The Drowning which have also been a great experience and our musical styles have some similarities. Seventh Angel came back together a few years back, so I now share my time between both bands. SA isn't as busy as MSW right now, but we do play a few times a year since reforming and we also did a new album last year. Tank, who is the SA drummer nas also now joined MSW. I can't see both bands playing on the same bill again very often as it is extremely demanding practising two sets. I feel more comfortable playing with bands that have a real feel to their music and who put their heart and soul into it. Style isn't as important as a good attitude.
What could expect a fan that is going to your concert for the first time? Ian: They could expect to see a band that will work hard on stage. Not always a completely polished performance but tight and with a lot of feeling. We tend to do shorter more immediate songs live these days and save the epics for the albums.
How do you compose your songs? What is the process from the beginning as an idea to the final result? Who is the main generator of ideas? Does everyone in the band contribute equally to this process? Ian: On Et Lux we had four lyric writers and 3 of us wrote the music. It all comes together in a variety of ways and you sometimes have to trim the music or lyrics to fit each other, especially when different people are handling the two jobs. It is always exciting to see new music come to life whichever way it happens. This time I am writing lyrics on my Blackberry so whenever I get a flash of inspiration (often whilst walking in the woods) I can type it down and easily edit it.
If the last song in your album reflects your new direction, so you are going to stress on the clean vocals and perhaps you will soften the sound as a whole. Am I with right or wrong impressions? Why do you intend to change your style? Ian: It is not our 'new direction' as many reviewers have assumed, but rather a part of what we have always done coming more to the foreground. We are writing the new songs now as we always have; with an open mind and allowing the songs to flow. We don't believe in contriving a sound, but rather doing what is coming naturally at the time.
Thanks for answering my questions! Ian: No problem! Thanks for your interest in MSW and for giving us an opportunity to say something. Reviewed by Maria D. S. | 
