Reticence is defined as reluctance or restrain; the feeling of resisting or refusing to belong. But what happens when this reticence is targeted towards life itself? ON THE EVE OF A GOODBYE is quite an emotionally complex album focusing on a personal loss experienced by its author and depicted through this experimental record defined as both a point of great personal importance for the founder and main power behind THE RETICENT, Chris Hathcock  and the future of this band as the upholders and encouragers of his vision; originally from Durham North Carolina in the United States of America ON THE EVE OF A GOODBYE was released as a result of a successful Kickstarter campaign and was self-financed and recorded by CHRIS himself and released through HEAVEN AND HELL RECORDS on October of the last year.

A tremendous effort made by a one man band virtuoso that finds a more aggressive approach towards music in this experiment that as he has stated himself, goes from Death Metal to classic rock to jazz to classical music in a an attempt to explore further territory and find closure in a project that has been almost a decade in the making. The acoustic intro sets an undying atmosphere that is well kept throughout the whole album along with a tempo as relentless as the female psyche, which is from my point of view, the main concept behind the work of this North Carolina Band, along with the despair and madness that come along with dealing with a loss be it either physical or emotional.

The clean lyrics seem to demerit and dissent from the music a couple of times, especially in songs that maybe could have lasted a bit less to bring more integrity to the album, like Albert Einstein once, anyone can make things bigger more complex and more violent, it takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. "The Postscript" was the track I could identify the most with, and to me it is a clear example of what this band can achieve if they focus on a more cohesive sound towards a more extreme branch of metal and choose to abandon those attempts of technicality that resembles more a fusion rock band although I could really do without the honking guitar at the end of the track.

"Funeral for a Firefly" is the zenith of Chris' performance, and there is a very interesting YouTube video on the bands official site and social media that depicts perfectly how an artist's deepest emotions and experiences turn into works of art and in this case how hard it is sometimes for emotions to pour out and forma musical piece like in this case. For those interested this record shows a perfect example of the creative journey that makes it so difficult for many to envision a concept and to find the resources to be able to make them turn to a reality. I envision this band targeting towards a more aggressive approach towards their musical performance in the future, finding a balance point between the lack of stability and the great creative persona of its leader and founder.