WAKE – Thought Form Descent
Release Date: 22nd July 2022
Label: Metal Blade Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Doom, Deathgrind, Progressive Death Metal.
FFO: Aeviterne, Hath, WVRM.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Continuing the writing process from their last record without the benefit of going on tour, due to the pandemic, WAKE dove recklessly into the process of writing Thought Form Descent, their most recent addition to an impressive catalog of melodic death metal offerings. WAKE seeks to create a continuation of the last release, Confluence, as they were immersed straight into the project. Without knowing, WAKE might have created a double-album (EP+LP) that could be considered in its totality as a follow up to 2020’s acclaimed Devouring Ruin. That, however, is for the listener to decide.
Thought Form Descent is released on July 22nd on Metal Blade Records, a departure from Devouring Ruin, which was released on Transition Loss Records. The Calgary artists are currently looking to start the touring process for both (technically all three) recent albums, promising a diverse and immersive experience for fans. I don’t personally feel that Confluence and Thought Form Descent follow the same methodology, as Thought Form Descent is arguably heavier, faster, and carries more furor than Confluence, which is darker, slower, and more moody. Confluence reminds me more of bands like Conjurer, who use a dark and heavy post-black metal sound. Thought Form Descent is fast and wild at almost all times outside its two interlude tracks.
Sonically, there is no shortage of blistering blast beats over staccato guitar. The ever-present element of Thought Form Descent that will stand out to listeners is the lead guitar, which plays melodies and leads throughout. In most tracks, the guitar haunts the melody with one of two distinct tones, a melody higher on the neck, or a “dirtier” rhythm part down low, which can help in breaking up the tracks into faster and slower parts. In specific, the “faster” parts of each song are absolutely mad, screaming and screeching on guitar with raucous vocal screams, while the “slower” parts are melodic and moody, bringing a great deal of contrast between segments in each song.
The vocals are absolutely beautiful, going from the low to the high register to accent the musical needs of each song. The dynamics are infinitely-better as a result of the range of vocalist and songwriter Kyle Ball, whose tracks are layered extremely-well, thanks in part to engineer Dave Otero, who is known for his work with Cattle Decapitation, a band whose vocals are a marquee of their career’s work. Ball’s vocal range and layered tracks are one of the high points of the entire album for me.
Tracks average around 6:00 in length, with two interlude tracks, something that is more common in the genre. It reminds me of Gaerea, whose tracks can range from 5 to 11 minutes, allowing the songs to have waves and movements, negating the need for “singles” or other shorter tracks. Another impressive factor of the production of Thought Form Descent is that the first three tracks run together extremely-well, all being in the exact same key, one flowing almost straight into the other, something that often comes at the risk of monotony, something which I certainly didn’t notice on the record. Given their work on Confluence, I would have really liked to hear one or two slower (Conjurer-esque) tracks on the record to really “round it out”. The second half of the album doesn’t flow as well as the first half, which is something that could have been done with samples or in post-production (in my humble opinion) to add more continuity like the first half, which was so-impressive. The downtempo slamming, moody assault on Confluence could have brought that final piece to Thought Form Descent that would have put it in the upper-echelon of releases in the genre this year. Nonetheless, Thought Form Descent is a musically-generous, wailing, howling, continuation of the band’s previous work that mixes melody and vocal insanity with moments of continuity that are too good to miss.
(3.5 / 5)
