Songs of Darkness, Words of Light

The masters of doom metal are back with their seventh full-length album (not including their two live albums, EPs, compilations, etc.) Songs of Darkness, Words of Light. And what an album they have created here, full of beautiful melodies and some of the most sorrowful lyrics I’ve read. These guys know how to make doom metal, after all they’ve been doing this for around 14 years now. My first exposure to this band was when I picked up their 1996 album Like Gods of the Sun, after having read/heard many good things about the band and that album. Upon hearing that album for the first time I was taken about at how sorrowful this band really was, the music was so slow and melancholic it was unreal. Add to that the vocals of Aaron Stainthorpe and you’ve got one hell of a doom metal album.

So here it is 2004 and we are given another eight tracks of doom, clocking in at around 58+ minutes. There is not a bad track to be found on this album, each song is a keeper as far as I’m concerned. Each track contains haunting guitar riffs (provided by Hamish Glencross and Andrew Craighan), tight drumming, a thick bass sound (easily heard in the mix, but not overpowering), and Aaron Stainthorpe’s excellent vocals. Stainthorpe has one of the best voices I’ve heard, he can sing the low whispered styled vocals, mournful styled, and give some pretty good growled vocals all within a single song. A perfect example of this comes in the third track, Catherine Blake. The song starts out with this droning opening riff, followed in short time by the vocals. The vocals are almost spoken in the beginning, but then around the 4:24 mark the song takes a different direction. The riffs become a little heavier, in my opinion, and Stainthorpe breaks out the growls. Such a beautiful song, it’s definitely one of the best tracks on the album.

If you like doom metal, or are interested in checking out the genre, don’t hesitate in picking up this album. There’s no better way to get into a genre of metal than by getting an album by one of the masters in the field. For doom metal, those masters are six individuals who call themselves My Dying Bride.