Wake – Thought Form Descent
Wake – Thought Form Descent
Metal Blade
Release Date: 22/07/2022
Running Time: 47:00
Review by Rory Bentley
8/10
Alright gang, good to see you again! I’m currently catching up on my review list after having a bit of an emotional wobble and then getting married. I should stress those two things are not connected but both have been less than conducive to listening to and writing about Metal. Particularly when it’s as bleak and devastating as “Thought Form Descent” by Canadian Black Metal masters Wake.
Having garnered some serious underground credibility and critical acclaim over the last few years, Wake have carved out their own niche in the world of transcendental, crushing Black Metal. As I’ve stressed before, I’m not a huge Black Metal guy generally speaking and there normally needs to be a little bit of sizzle on the side to get me interested. The sizzle in question with Wake is the crushing heaviness and pastoral feel throughout this album that gives me the same unsettling sense of existential dread and awe at the vast natural wilderness that I get from the last Cult of Luna album. There is an earthiness to widescreen opener ‘Infinite Inward’ that feels like grabbing a fist full of soil as you lie on a forest floor as the sun begins to piece through the canopy above. I’m reminded of fellow North American BM outfit Wolves In The Throne Room here and throughout the record.
Circling back to the ‘heaviness’ I mentioned earlier, I should elaborate on this. A lot of Black Metal is heavy on atmosphere but unlikely to make me scrunch my face up like a gurning bulldog at the level of molten riffage. This is where Wake really tick my boxes. There’s a muscular Death Metal thrust to ‘Swallow The Light’ that bolsters the band’s sound and gives the song a visceral impact that melds raw power with ethereal elegance.
Vocally, Kyle Ball is a commanding presence throughout, summoning up an intensity that galvanises the expansive, cinematic flow of ‘Mourning Dirge (Repose of the Dead)’ and channels both the human and the bestial with a bone-chilling roar. There is a guttural percussiveness to his low end growls that provides the heartbeat to each song and makes each banshee-like high register shriek more impactful. The closing 2 minutes of ‘Venerate (The Undoing of All)’ in particular provide a terrifying example of this.
This is by no means an easy album to listen to and I do find myself struggling with its consistent level of intensity. While it would be unfair to say the record lacks dynamics I do feel a little more sonic variety in places wouldn’t go amiss. The melodic leads and crashing arpeggios on ‘Observer to Master’ were a blessed relief amidst the near constant barrage of white hot intensity I’d been subjected to up until that point. In the end the band add just enough wrinkles to their game to keep your attention and maintain momentum throughout the epic closer ‘Bleeding Eyes of the Watcher’ and its instrumental coda ‘The Translation of Deaths’.
This album’s main strength lies in raw, seething emotion. Sometimes that scalding intensity can be too much to digest in one sitting, but persevere and it will leave you drained but satisfied. I’m hoping that there will be even more layers added to the band’s sound by the next album, but for now this is an often stunning piece of passionate, celestial Metal alchemy.
‘Swallow the Light’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Infinite Inward
02. Swallow the Light
03. Mourning Dirge (Repose of the Dead)
04. Pareidolia
05. Venerate (The Undoing of All)
06. Observer to Master
07. Bleeding Eyes of the Watcher
08. The Translation of Deaths
LINE-UP:
Kyle Ball- Vocals
Josh Bueckert- Drums
Arjun Gill- Guitars
Rob LaChance- Guitars
Ryan Kennedy- Bass
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rory Bentley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
