Doom/death outfit My Silent Wake unleashes their third album. I don't know the first two, so I'll stick to this one without comparing it to their earlier ones. The vocals are done by several different members including Ian Arkley's baritone snarl, clean vocals from Ian, Andi, and Kate and more blackened vocals from Jason. Opening track "Tunnels" is a long, doomy and melancholic song combining clean singing parts with death vocals. The complete album has a rather sad expression, but what else do you expect from doom?

The record company wants us to believe that this is a doom/death combo, with gothic influences. I understand why they say it, but the death part is a minority, some vocals are death vocals, musically it is doom and some gothic elements that rule. Besides the doomy songs there is also the instrumental track "Pendulum" which is traditional folk music that has nothing to do with metal, but it is a nice intermission. In "Wilderness and Thorns" the organ in combination with the male/female vocals makes this song one of the better ones. In this song there are also some very fast blast beating black metal sounding parts.

The biggest difference between My Silent Wake and a lot of other real doom bands is that they have a lot of variety in the songs and lots of different genres involved. Take for example the song "Fallen Leaves", an acoustic guitar song with clean vocals, not metal, but very melancholic and sad. The song makes an impression.

Fans of Anathema, My Dying Bride, Trouble, open-minded Paradise Lost fans and other depressive music lovers might find this a record worthy addition to their collection.