SILENCE THE YEARNING began as an outlet for two experienced metal musicians to explore a gothic doom metal sound, with sprinklings of post-rock. While they have elements of great bands who came before them, standing alongside the greats is a different story.

The band's gothic, gloomy soundscapes remind me of MY DYING BRIDE circa "Like Gods of the Sun", and PARADISE LOST circa "Draconian Times". While it's important to assess bands based on their own merit, music isn't made in a vacuum, and so the history of a particular genre inevitably comes into play. I think the band has a good deal of potential in the area of gothy doom metal, but perhaps they need some time to grow into their current musical direction - judging from their Bandcamp bio, it sounds like this type of music is something new for A.T. and J.S.

 "Introduction" sets the scene, with a sombre opening piano piece. "The Introit" immediately reminded me 90s gothic doom metal, with its FX-laden guitar riffs. In fact, it got me feeling a bit nostalgic, and wishing I'd been old enough to see South African gothic doom band GRÄMLICH in their heyday (late 80s/early 90s). J.S.'s vocals sounded a bit odd to me upon first listen, but they grew on me. The production on the vocals is perhaps a bit cramped, but nonetheless the anguish-laden notes of the cleans and growls work well with the music.

A.T. lays out some catchy, beautifully gloomy riffs, but unfortunately I found myself getting a little bored towards the end of the album due to sameyness. The pacing doesn't seem to vary that much throughout the album, so I didn't feel like there were any musical surprises. A.T. also does a good job on bass guitar; I especially liked the warm bassline on "Death of Kings". The only questionable aspect of this multi-instrumentalist's playing was the choice to end the album with a spacey keyboard piece. It doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the album.

I'm interested to see what SILENCE THE YEARNING do next, since I feel that they have the potential to do well in the arena of gothic doom metal. It's a subgenre I'm rather fond of, so I welcome new bands in this sphere.