Awaken Solace - In Nightfall’s Embrace
CD Info
2012
Self Released / Australia
14 Tracks on each of 2 CDS
English Lyrics
There are a lot of great releases that come out every year in this musical genre. I’ve heard some of the best ever this year. But, there hasn’t really been anything this complete in a long time, maybe ever. Other releases have been substantial, Downcast Art from Croatia, Six Magics from Chile to name a few. But this one, while it may not provide better music, provides more of it. This release is in a league of its own. We get two full CDs with a total of 14 tracks on each, nearly 70 minutes on each with the upper end selections being nearly 10 minutes. It’s a 5 person band but there’s a lot more musicians than that. You get 2 complete choirs, lots of instruments; this one goes into Therion territory. Now I know Australia doesn’t get a lot of coverage on this site, I think I’ve covered a total of two releases from the subcontinent. But then, how many people actually know where it is, how many know that they still report to the Queen, how many know that Foster’s isn’t really even available there, we don’t know much. But, they do speak English which helped with this review, my linguistic capabilities are limited you know and even some of the conversation I had with the band was beyond my ability to decipher. But the music speaks for itself.
Well, being a limited musical talent, with capabilities rarely explored beyond the Great Atchafalaya Swamp and even then ignored on most occasions, I feel somewhat overwhelmed by this particular musical product. Usually I can get through a review in a short period of time. But here we’ve got just way too much music, way too many thoughts, way too much involvement. And they didn’t even use the ‘effin kangaroos. The music may deviate a little from what we often expect with metal, although there are some solid guitars and drums, at least on the first CD. There’s no death metal vocals, there’s not a lot of guitar virtuoso. What there is tends towards the symphonic, we get keys, and bigger stuff on the second CD, we get choral elements, we get additional instrumental sounds and we get a solid femme vox. And, of course, we get lyrics that take me to those places where the darkness is front and center, places where the boy bands are afraid to visit and the rap artists are left in an intellectual funk.
You really have to look at these two products separately even though they cover the same material in a sense. The track names are the same but one gives you a metal interpretation, albeit one with a strong symphonic, operatic perspective. The other is more symphonic, maybe for a different listener but not always. I find myself going between CDs on a regular basis since I do tend to like classical sounds. However, this being a metal female fronted vocal site, we’ll tend to focus on the first release. I mean, there are 14 tracks, which should keep us busy for a little while. And that first CD kicks off with a solid Gothic track, Moonlight’s Wake. You get the lyrics on this video and they pretty much make clear where we’re going with this release. This is what the Gothic is all about, this is pretty much as good as it gets in this style of music, and it’s from Australia fer Christ sake. Maybe there’s hope for the US after all. And you do get some of that pure classical direction on this track, you also get a feel for some of the choral sounds. And towards the end, you get a bit of some solid guitar work from the lovely blond female lead axe Elspeth.
Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of videos available to preview for this outstanding work. However, the band does present a number of tracks on their website as well as some limited information about the band and related information. Remember, this is new stuff, the CD was only recently released and the band doesn’t even have a lot of time doing live material so there’s not much out there. . . but there will be. This is just too good not to catch on. You get a relatively nice range of material over the 14 tracks. The second track, Escaping the Beast provides a little more metal. You get the seemingly ever present double kick drum that floats the symphonics that lead to a more metal vocal delivery. Lyrically, this track, like most, provides multiple interpretations. Some are more Gothic in nature, others, like this one, can provide the listener with an option to interpret multiple ways:
Even now it stays by my side / Crawling into my home
There’s nowhere to hide / She is the beast that lingers inside
I need to run far away from here / Far away from her
From all I’ve made here
Other tracks present a more ethereal perspective. Return to Avalon sounds more like an intro to an Arthurian epic film. This may be the more representative sound for the first CD. You get a more symphonic base, a little less drum and guitar work. And the vocals seem to follow this direction. You can contrast this to the more direct metal sounds that seem to move in similar directions vocally. The Slaying of the Shallow’s Queen presents beautiful music, but it’s music from the darkest interpretations of the human experience. Gothic should be beautiful, but it should capture an ideology that can be framed in a less than attractive reality, bring the darkness but make it lovely, we die with a sound to frame the experience in something heavenly. The lyrics follow a sound of madness, laughter from the other side:
When you die / When you die
I won’t save you / When you drown
When you drown / I will watch you
I will dance on your grave / I will move from where past lays
I will spread such dismay / Just watch me reign
You can interpret these thoughts multiple ways, there’s the ethereal which would talk to the heavens, but there’s the more human which suggest another interpretation. I am reminded of people, all of whom have become acolytes in a pantheon where the admission fee was the forfeiture of their souls, or at least their self-respect. When the music can capture this descent into hell, it has accomplished something beyond the sound, something to address the soul.
Dream Walker takes us to a more classical sound. Here we get a music that is taken from earlier times. There’s the classical element, both vocal and instrumental but this is from sounds that almost approximate the 40s for me, violins and strings that take us to moments that cannot be adequately described in voice. This is a different direction that what we typically get in this type of music, and a tribute to the artistry of the musicians who have provided it. You get a similar sound with The Passing which is augmented by the spoken word, a technique that provides a more sinister component that augments the heavenly vocal and the soaring choral work. This one features a piano intro but leads to a sound that can only be described as Biblical:
Waking in the darkness / I can hear a whisper through the cold new air
Waking to a pathway / Grimness grips my weakness
Strong words they sing
Walk through you’re passed away / Lord of my darkness
Relinquish me / Walk through / Let all decay
The Final Chapter closes the work, appropriately enough. Again, a bit of a rocker, guitars front and center, drums sending a crushing message, the vocals doing an operatic voyage over a choral sound that can only be found in this type of music. This one talks to the haunting of the temptress, the pain of regret, the devastation of taking away. It’s nearly 10 minutes of solid Gothic material, everything we dream of from this approach to music and done at the highest possible level. There’s even a limited male vocal, a clean vocal that seems to augment the overall sound in a more than appropriate way.
The second CD presents the same material, but differently. I don’t know of any other release that has done this, I know of no other musical entity who might even try with the possible exception of Therion. This is exceptional music and lends itself to a fully symphonic interpretation. There are those who will certainly prefer the second CD to the first, there are many others who will switch back and forth. I fall in the later camp. Tracks like Eternal in Time, where the vocals are somewhat more subdued over a more classical arrangement are beyond beautiful. Others, like Dear Evelyn, present a male vocal, augmented by a devastating choral arrangement that provide a completely original musical direction that again takes us to places rarely explored. If you truly love the symphonic, this will be Nirvana in the ultimate sense. This takes the concept and multiplies it by 10.
Awaken Solace has truly put Australia on the Symphonic, Operatic Gothic map. They take a back seat to no one. This is groundbreaking material; this takes us to a new level. I’ve had the material for several weeks now, I’m still getting oriented to it, expect the same experience. This is not causal listening, this is intense material, solidly developed, expertly presented. I can’t think of a better way to spend 140 minutes. Book ‘er mate, it’s a solid 10.
10 / 10
