A 20 year eulogy? Or a celebration of 2 decades of emotive doom? The gargantuan two disc compilation MMV – MMXXV is both, a celebration of My Silent Wake but it also feels like the closing of chapter. The band play their last ever live show at One For Sorrow at the end of this month and with this album released just a week before, it’s a preparation of the sadness to come but most importantly a celebration of sadness, twenty two tracks in reverse chronological order detailing the journey of this vitally important part of the UK/European death/doom scene.
They haven’t just compiled a load of old songs though, as I said this is a journey in reverse taking in all of the facets of the MSW career path be it the gothic organs of Lavender Garden alongside The Liar And The Fool from a more recent release, the experimental ambience of Volta or the acoustic led moments such as Tower Walk or the Jethro Tull folks of Light And Shadows. There’s also two live offerings as well to explore the live potency of the band too but long-time fans will be salivating over the prospect of a reworking of the epic Hunting Season, the track which begins this compilation,.
For me though it’s A Bleak Fateful Night that brought a few tears. A tribute to former MSW guitarist Mike Hitchen who tragically passed away last year, Mike was also a founding member of South Wales melodic doom band The Drowning and is incredibly missed by all those who knew him, so this tribute hits hard as it’s got all of the elements you’d expect from MSW in one song as they remember their fallen friend with a monster of a melodic doom masterpiece.
Emotion plays a huge part in their music, for all the bluster of the death/doom tracks like Of Fury or the progressive melodies meets massive riffs of Killing Flaw, its reflective string-laden beauty of ones such as Berceuse that get the hairs standing on end, a simple piano, cello, female vocals and you’re in the world they have created the musical influences of religious music strongly present here when the choirs and operatic vocals come in. To this day My Silent Wake is led by Ian Arkley (guitars/keys/vocals), MSW is his creative vision inspired by the Peaceville Three of course as all death/doom acts are but there’s also plenty of 80’s postpunk on tracks such as Third Season along with all the nods to Pink Floyd with the shimmering guitar lines.
Due to the reverse order of the record, if you’re after My Silent Wake at their heaviest then the last moments of disc two are where to start, this is when they were death/doom in their rawest form, including Your Cold Embrace the first song they ever recorded, before the experimental/melodic influences came in to give them a more cinematic style, though Shadow Of Sorrow shows these were prominent from the beginning.
Of course I can’t tell you every single member that plays here but the current line up features Ian Arkley as I’ve said, Adam Westlake on bass, Gareth Arlett on drums and Simon Bibby on keys/vocals and they have all be part of the band for at least 10 years, so they will know these songs inside out come the final live performance on 30th August in Plymouth, whatever they decide to play. It will certainly be an emotional set so I suggest if you can’t make it, and even if you can to pick up MMV – MMXXV and re-discover the undeniable legacy of My Silent Wake, more than a retrospective, it’s a historical document of a musical evolution, and this is My Silent Wake’s legacy. 10/10
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