The Inside Room

... was something I have never seen.

Yep, that describes my feelings for this album pretty good. Although I listen a lot to doom metal and thought I would know the most touching bands this genre has to offer, 40 Watt Sun hit me frontally without a warning (no pun intended). They caught me and refuse to let me go.

I never even heard of Warning, the previous band of Pat Walker, so I can judge fair and without comparision about that album. Just wanted to say that before we start with the important part of that review.

So. At first, I love distorted, drony riffing. 40 Watt Sun use it very excessive, but never at center stage. It becomes more or less a background noise, leaving most of the space for Pat Walker. But if you give the guitar playing a closer listen, you'll find that there are a lot of melodies hidden inside the seemingly monotone riffs. Melodies that wind themselves through the whole album. It's like searching for gold in a pile of dirt.

The drumming is very, very subtle. Like the guitars, the drums never get too prominent. The difference here is that there are no fine melodies or something like that woven into it, it's really just background, like the bass that you only can hear if you really, really want to. For me, that's no problem - don't get me wrong, I enjoy good, loud and heavy drumming, but that's no must-have. The main thing is that the volume and the rhythm fit the band, and for 40 Watt Sun, it's the only good way could go.

However, the real star, the pulsing heart of The Inside Room and the whole concept of 40 Watt Sun are Pat Walker's nasal, but surprisingly clear vocals. He manages to convey the whole meaning of the song, not just through the lyrics, but merely through his voice which is highly emotive and full of despair and longing, although it always lets a glimmer of light and hope shimmer through. The lyrics have the same themes like most of the other bands in the Doom Metal genre, but they are refreshingly unpretentious in their own way. The only bad thing is that I had a lot to puzzle ere I had the lyrics together, and yes, that's not that good, at least in my opinion. But still, they're a whole lot clearer than those of most genre collegues.

Overall, The Inside Room is one of the best doom metal albums I ever heard, and it's one of the best releases of 2011, too, imo. The songs fill a space somewhere inside of me that was empty for a long, long time. When I listen to Restless, I share all the feelings Pat Walker might have had while creating it. That's something not many bands can do in this intensity. So, I give the whole thing a rating of 100% and recommend it to everyone who likes doom metal combined with clear vocals instead of growls.