In the imagery and in the themes of the band, there is no space for anything devilish or creepy, no pale drug-addicts dressed in black and violet cloaks rolling over mossy tombstones and no dragons or clanging swords populate the doom ballads of this band from Lancashire.
Unsilence’s own doom is a unique blend of traditional doom à-la-Candlemass and epic, proggy heavy metal with a particular mood often bearing the dark or emotional flavor of traditional, (Celtic?) folk ballads. Album A Fire On The Sea comes about five years after Unsilence’s long awaited debut ful-length album, Under A Torn Sky.
That album was the fruit of the tormented, and often unlucky, story of the band and of a substantial sequence of fine Eps and demos (dating back from the early 90s to early 2000s) that the band started sharing via Bandcamp recently.
As reported in my interview to band’s founder Kieron Tuohey (HERE), after starting as a doom-death band with growled vocals (like in the 1994 demo), Unsilence rapidly adopted clean and intensely melodic vocal style with the first singer Andrew Hodson (already in their 1996 demo). Hence back in the 90s Unsilence actively contributed to building up that intensely “introspective” stream of the British heavy doom scene together with like-minded Warning (then into doom/slow-core band 40 Watt Sun). Both bands were interconnected as members of both Unsilence and Warning also entered the melodic doom band The River. The line-up of Unsilence’s new album saw the core members Kieron Tuohey (guitar) and James Kilmurray (vocals/guitar) plus the periodical involvement of former drummer Jonathon Gibbs (also in The River) and the addition of bassist James Moffatt (also in The Human Condition).
A Fire On The Sea was released by the independent Polish label Nine Records during July 2014. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered at Full Stack Studio, Great Harwood, Lancashire by Matt Richardson fronting the sludge metal band Bastard Of The Skies. The recording studio is popular among many UK doom bands and was an excellent choice for getting the desired levels of heaviness and depth of sound. The new album comprises seven tracks for over 45 minutes. Six out of seven songs last over 6 minutes but these numbers won’t mean much while you’ll find yourself spinning the album in a loop, captured by the strength of the riffs, the unique passionate melody and the haunting atmospheres in these incredibly rich and well-crafted ballads. The whole album relies on a smart dynamic songwriting where slower and faster, mid-tempo-paced parts continuously and smoothly alternate, and well-trained musicianship is combined with great inspiration.
While promoting the upcoming album the band had chosen imposing A Thousand Seasons as a teaser track. This one is probably the most mournful song of the album, the only one dominated by a slow-paced rhythm and a markedly funereal mood. In the other long tracks the pace is generally faster. Frequent insertion of tight riff charges and the consequent periodical excursions into pure “f***ing” heavy epic metal to headbang to would probably relieve the tragic tension created by the leading doom tunes and James Kilmurray’s achingly passionate vocals. For example, the opening track The Doorway is no less than a killer slab of flamboyant heavy metal driven by a surprising combination of riffs and masterful interaction between the two guitar players. Breaking Away is another spectacular heavy doom ballad lead by a galloping rhythm and by a melody often reminding of traditional popular chants. Here and elsewhere in the album James’ particular voice, more powerful than ever before, is occasionally backed by Kieron’s in some short, charming choirs.
The soft noise of the sea waves and the slowly growing sound of downtuned guitars introduce the title track, an emotional yet martial folkish doom ballad, where the contrast between the aggressive sound of guitars and drums and the searing melody in James’ chanting is quite sharp and haunting. After the funeral mood of A Thousand Seasons, the track On Wild Fields (the longest one) is probably the most difficult one to pigeonhole for me as to the style. It’s a mid-tempo, highly melodic, epic metal ballad yet quite melancholic where vocals are varied: distant, reverbered choirs often interact with James’ singing. The shortest track, Old Tides (2:47) is a magnificent, delicate acoustic dark folk gem, an intimate interval before the final wave of solemn epic doomy riffs in Unchained.
You may love their style or hate it, but Unsilence are unique and they are original. They crafted and moulded their style over almost two decades but they remained faithful to their “old school” roots, as their consistent production can testify. Album A Fire On The Sea is surely the result of such development but, for me, it is primarily a magnificent slab of metal, one of the best and most original albums of this year.
You can stream Unsilence’s new album on the band’s own Bandcamp page, where you can also get basically hold of all the previous releases. But for supporting this great band and buying the digital or CD versions of the album you have to go to the label’s Bandcamp page.
Words: Marilena Moroni
Official Website
Bandcamp
Tracklist:
1. The Doorway (06:25)
2. Breaking Away (06:55)
3. A Fire on the Sea (07:02)
4. A Thousand Seasons (06:49)
5. On Wild Fields (08:26)
6. Old Tides (02:50)
7. Unchained (06:56)