Crypt Of Silence - Awareness Ephemera (CD)

Review
Shelter of Doom
7/10
26.12.2016

The second full-length album of my compatriots brings a peculiar result of the outgoing 2016 year, becoming a good end of it.
What does the band have to offer us with “Awareness Ephemera”? Let’s take a closer look then. Four compositions, total duration of about 55 minutes, the shortest of which (album’s opening “Longest Winter”) lasts 10 minutes. The disc is jammed to the rafters with bulky riffs, middle-tone melodies, quite tasty bass lines and on top of this all – very powerful growling can be heard. Also the drum working is in a proper manner: interesting fills, intense double-bass drumming, I would say – all the things that will keep you fresh. However, personally, I clearly feel wearied with the length of compositions, I do think that they are too long, especially if one considers that the band’s music consists mostly of only guitar passages. Yet the vocal delivery doesn’t present too much diversity. You won’t hear nothing else but middle-pitched growls (in most songs) and a little bit of whisper (in the third tune). Is it bad? I don’t insist, because everything is in the canon, musicians play very well, but by the middle of the second song I began to keep an eye on the timer…It just doesn’t do the trick to me. Well, the third song called “Life Passed By” made me rise up again. It’s a classy tune where you have melancholic acoustic moments and beautiful melodies, accompanied by heavy chords. The highlight of the album for sure!
If we draw parallels with famous bands – Irish doomsters Mourning Beloveth come to mind in no time! Very similar compositions structures, lines, and the mood in general, but the clean vocal is completely absent. As for me, in the future the band must diversify the vocal performance, as well as they should add to their music something more than the standard (guitar-bass-drums) 90s doom-metallers set. One of the most obvious drawbacks of “Awareness Ephemera” is its full dedication to old-school sound. I do not have a clue why the band decided not to go beyond the borders they have set to themselves. These songs are asking for adding these missing elements, such as the keyboard strings ensembles or maybe some ambient inserts. The choice is yours! Having only viscous riffing won’t do justice. The lack of atmosphere is obvious and the sound is too dry, it would be nice to dilute it.
Summarizing the results, I would like to say that despite the monotony of songs presented on this album, “Awareness Ephemera” – is still a pretty strong work, and certainly fans of old-school death/doom who miss the end of 90s-very beginning of 2000s will like the album.

Author: Max Molodtsov

Review
Iye Zine
8/10
30.12.2016

Poco più di due anni fa, quando mi ritrovai a parlare dell’album d’esordio dei Crypt Of Silence, Beyond Shades,
mi espressi in maniera non entusiastica nei confronti dell’operato del gruppo ucraino, pur valutandolo alla fine positivamente, in quanti mi appariva troppo appiattito su posizioni simili a quelle dei primi Mourning Beloveth, senza possederne però lo stesso impatto melodico e drammatico.
Oggi il gruppo irlandese rappresenta sempre la Stella Polare per la giovane band dell’est, ma il salto di qualità che auspicavo, confidando anche nell’innato fiuto della Solitude Productions nello scovare talenti, è avvenuto: Awareness Ephemera è un lavoro che rispecchia in molti aspetti il suo predecessore, con quattro lunghi brani per una durata complessiva attorno ai cinquanta minuti, ma la differenza la fa tutta l’incisività della scrittura.
Infatti, l’incedere dolente e rallentato di Longest Winter, fin dalle prime note fa capire quanto i Crypt Of Silence abbiano appreso al meglio la lezione, ammantando ogni nota del pathos necessario per avvincere e convincere i potenziali ascoltatori: il letale mix fra My Dying Bride, Mourning Beloveth e Daylight Dies (evocati questi ultimi soprattutto in Insignificant Sense) prende corpo srotolandosi dolorosamente, con ritmiche che sovente si fanno asfissianti spingendosi ai confini del funeral, particolarmente nella pachidermica Life Passed By.
E’ la meravigliosa Meridian, comunque, la traccia che chiude l’album, a fotografare nella maniera più nitida l’attuale status dei Crypt Of Silence, i quali scendono senza timore sullo stesso terreno dei loro maestri d’oltremanica, avvicinandoli non poco se non addirittura eguagliandoli a tratti; certo, la contiguità stilistica è sempre molto marcata e questa è, forse, l’unica perdonabile pecca di un album bellissimo a prescindere, anche perché per incidere brani di questo spessore non è sufficiente essere solo dei buoni copisti, ma bisogna possedere la giusta dose di talento.
Il compito che affidiamo ai ragazzi ucraini, alla prossima occasione, sarà soltanto, quindi, quello di farci affermare “sembrano … i Crypt Of Silence”, perché diciamo tranquillamente che il death doom proposto in Awareness Ephemera è inattaccabile per potenziale ed impatto emotivo, il che non è affatto poco per chi si nutre di questo genere musicale.

Author: Stefano Cavanna

Review
http://www.thereviewer.ch
7/10

Ich war noch nie in Russland. Aber wie man weiss, ist dort der Winter nochmals um einiges länger und härter, als hierzulande. Einen ungefähren Eindruck davon geben uns die russische Doom/Death Metal-Kapelle CRYPT OF SILENCE, die bereits mit dem Opener „Longest Winter“ ihres neusten Eisen ihr Geschütz in Rekord-Slow Motion-Zeit auffahren. „Longest Winter“ ist zwar nicht ihr bestes Stück auf dem Album – mir fehlt es hier eindeutig am Drive und an festen Anhaltspunkten, machen es mit dem zweiten Track „Insignificant Sense“ jedoch schon besser. Das Optimum des Albums erreichen sie damit aber noch nicht, auch wenn der Track viele Defizite des Openers ausbügelt. Auf „Life Passed By“ lassen sie dann nun doch endlich ihre ganz grossen Stärken aus dem Sack. Einprägsame Melodieführung und ergreifendes Setting im Zusammenspiel bei den Gitarren- und den Growl-Vocals im Refrain-artigen Ankerpunkt des Songs heben „Life Passed By“, zumindest in meinen Ohren, auf das Podest Nummer Eins von „Awareness Ephemera“, denn mit „Meridian“ beginnt diese Leistung wieder an, etwas zu bröckeln.

„Awareness Ephemera“ ist sicherlich kein schlechtes Album – für meinen Geschmack sind die schweren Riff-Brocken aber auf etwas wackligem Fundament erbaut, und werde das Werk somit im Ordner unter dem Aktenzeichen „Solide“ abheften müssen.

Author: Pink

Review
Metal Temple
8/10
25.04.2017

CRYPT OF SILENCE is a Ukrainian Death-Doom Metal band formed back in 2009. “Awareness Ephemera” is their second full-length album that was released in December 2016 through the Russian company Solitude Productions. It has only four tracks total but it clocks in at almost fifty-five minutes long. If you can handle the soul-wrenching level of bleakness that CRYPT OF SILENCE has to offer, you won’t ever be bored. There are moments of beautiful clarity where the sun shines through these dismal clouds, but there is always that looming spectre of melancholy. Somehow CRYPT OF SILENCE managed to put out an hour of gloomy yet ever so slightly hopeful music without it ever getting monotonous.

“Longest Winter” is a chilly, brutally dank track that slow and heavy. It leans towards Folk Metal at times, with acoustic segments that possess that unique fantasy element. That natural yet supernatural flavour that brings to mind ancient rituals at twilight, dedicated to gods long forgotten. “Insignificant Sense”has that same oppressive weight; not with the apocalyptic satanism of Black Metal, but filled with a sense of futility and mourning.

“Life Passed By” is a dreary anthem, with whispered voices climbing to guttural painful vocals. This track is dripping with remorse and grief. It brings to mind all the things in life that you wish you had done or said to those who have left us. But then, around the nine-minute mark, the sun shines through the clouds a bit, and brighter tones bursting onto the scene to remind you that even bitter can be sweet.

Bringing us to a close is “Meridian”, a gentle sorrowful instrumental that clashes with the vicious vocals for a tonal blend that sums up the emotional content that CRYPT OF SILENCE presents. There is a strange sort of beauty to be had in spite of – or perhaps precisely because of- the bleakness of the experience. Like life itself, even the most unpleasant emotions can be wonderful because it is proof of life that we can feel such things. As they say, the show must go on, but “Awareness Ephemera” must also come to an end, and all things considered, this was a good way to close. Follow the link to the official music video of this track and you’ll see what I mean.

Songwriting: 8
Originality: 8
Memorability: 7
Production: 7

Author: Garrett Davis