Since the end of the first half of the 90s, Death Metal and its many genres went back to the depths of the underground, and those pioneers of Doom Death Metal migrated to more melodic and accessible musical forms. PARADISE LOST went to a more classic Doom Metal format with "Icon", MY DYING BRIDE used a more experimental and clean insight on "The Angel and the Dark River" (an evolution of what they did on "Turn Loose the Swans"), and ANATHEMA left behind their bitter and depressive music to use clean vocals and evolve into something more Progressive. But many bands still try to do something different on Doom Death Metal, and MY SILENT WAKE, from England, shows guts on their latest album, "There Was Death".

It's a way to play Doom Death Metal, but with a more dynamic approach on the rhythm and using funereal keyboards parts. It's different, because they try to do things on their own way, even with their roots being deep on the genre they play. The use of somber melodies helps a lot to turn things more tasteful for the listener, and their mix of slow parts (not as low as many use) with a dynamical playing is really non usual for Doom Death Metal. The sound quality of "There Was Death" is raw and aggressive, bearing the elements of Death Metal that their genre has, but the producer of the album tried to make a clean insight, for the band's music needs to be understood, and they reached a good level of sound clarity as well.

They use very long songs to express themselves musically, but they aren't boring. The harsh melodies of "A Dying Man's Wish" (that shows very good and somber keyboards' parts), the charming and catchy harmonies shown on "Killing Flaw" (that shows a very good work from bass guitar and guitars, with an aggressive insight), the bitter introspectiveness shown on the morbid tempos of "Ghosts of Parlous Lives" (very good drumming, indeed), the harsh and melancholic atmosphere of "There Was Death", and the musical diversity on the arrangements of "An End to Suffering" can be said as their finest songs.

They show a very good work on "There Was Death", and I hope that MY SILENT WAKE can become a great name among Metal fans worldwide.