Crypt Of Silence - Awareness Ephemera (CD)

death doom metal, Solitude Productions, Solitude Productions
600.00 Р
Price in points: 900 points
SP. 122-16 x
In stock
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The second album of the Ukrainian band does not follow popular trends in heavy music. It features the old good traditional doom death metal, just like at the first album by Crypt of Silence, which is mentally close to the first two albums of Mourning Beloveth, October Tide, My Dying Bride and the genre classics. This time the band, in their tries to demonstrate all the nuances of their skills to the audience, focused on the sound, having mixed and mastered the album at the Slow Burn Studio studio, previously worked with When Nothing Remains and Sorrowful Land.

Tracklist:
1 Longest Winter 9:54
2 Insignificant Sense 14:33
3 Life Passed By 13:46
4 Meridian 16:27

Artist:
Crypt Of Silence
Artist Country:
Ukraine
Album Year:
2016
Title:
Awareness Ephemera
Genre:
death doom metal
Format:
CD
Type:
CD Album
Package:
Jewel Case
Label:
Solitude Productions
Cat Num:
SP. 122-16
Release Year:
2016
Barcode:
4 627080 611115
Country Of Manufacture:
Russia
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
Doom-Metal.com
5/10
20.12.2016

Ukraine’s Crypt of Silence are, by their own admission, “following the traditions of doom death metal”, so it comes as no suprise that after an initial spin of this, their second full length…there are again, indeed, no suprises.

To be brutally honest, the first track as boring as it is, left me so cold I was all ready to start scribbling away about another pedestrian, lacklustre Russian-style Death/Doom band trying hard to emulate their rather obvious heroes from the North of England back in the early nineties…however…

The album as a whole isn’t quite as bad as all that, and in fact some of it is reasonably good in a sort of ‘eager to please’ kind of way, even if the influences are so stark ravingly obvious. Just shove ‘Serenades’ and ‘Gothic’ in a blender and the resultant mixture you’ll pour out will form the core of ‘Awareness Ephemera”s sound. There is slightly more to it than that – not much admittedly – but a little more at any rate. Something it does have (apart from the fact that it’s performed well) is a fairly strong sense of conviction. You get the merest whiff of it in that first track and by the time the second piece of music breaks down at around the twelve minute mark I was halfway to wondering if my initial reaction was way off course.

I don’t think it was though, and now after repeated listens, I think we are dealing with another pedestrian, lacklustre Russian-style Death/Doom band. Especially if you put this album up next to their debut, which I prefered. There you’ll find the only major difference this time around is the the plusher, plumper-sounding production which does go some way in moving the band towards a slightly more forward-thinking direction, but personally I think the rawer sound of the earlier release suits their writing better. Musically, though, there’s little, if any, progression between the two albums. But maybe that’s the point. Crypt Of Silence are hardly the first band in this genre to stubbornly stick to a tried and tested formula, and they more than likely won’t be the last.

It’s difficult to come up with anything terribly laudable to say about this album, just as it wouldn’t be fair to openly rubbish it. Crypt Of Silence clearly know what they’re about musically and so they get a few points for that, but it’s what they’re producing with their musical chops that’s the issue here. It’s as though, going from a perfectly decent debut, they’re struggling hard to push through the glass ceiling of reasonable-sounding Death/Doom into the realms of great-sounding Death/Doom. Something is definitely missing. I hope they find it…

Author: Matt Halsey
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
ZwareMetalen
8/10

Wederom een ijzersterke release van Oekraïense bodem. Waar eerder GreyAblaze mij al aangenaam verraste met hun gelijknamige debuut, doen hun landgenoten van Crypt of Silence dit gewoon even dunnetjes over, in dezelfde week. Maar geen post-blackmetal dit keer, dit is loodzware doom voor de vergalde fijnproever! Crypt of Silence brengt met het album Awareness Ephmera zijn tweede schijf uit. De voorganger, Beyond Shades uit 2014, werd destijds al positief ontvangen op deze site. En hoewel ik nog niet bekend ben met de betreffende release, lees ik zeker parallen met Awareness Ephmera.

Ook voor dit album geldt dat we te maken hebben met een tracklist bestaande uit vier nummers, waarvan zij bestaan uit lange loodzware tracks, doordrenkt met melodie en krachtige deathgrunts. In totaal beslaat het viertal zo’n vijfenvijftig minuten, maar verrassend genoeg gaan deze, juist voor het uiterst slome melodieuze geweld, snel voorbij. Het betreft hier immers krachtige composities, zij het doordrenkt met het gevoel van ellende. Neem bijvoorbeeld het bijna jammerlijke geschreeuw op een track als Meridian, dat wordt begeleidt op een constant tempo, waar de hond van de buren nog op mee zou gaan joelen.

De tweestemmige gitaren doen me denken aan Swallow The Sun op z’n somberst en traagst, met name in de nummers Insignificant Sense en Life Passed By. Zelf refereert Crypt of Silence voor deze plaat vooral naar het werk van het Ierse Mourning Beloveth. Insignificant Sense bevat een heerlijk dromerige outro. Deze duurt maar liefst zo’n kleine vier minuten, terwijl het hele nummer bijna een kwartier duurt. Maar ook het treurige Life Passed By is een prachtig nummer vol melodie, waarbij de band geen steekjes laat vallen.

Wat mij betreft blijft dat touw maar lekker liggen in je schuur of in de schappen van de plaatselijke bouwmarkt. Zet daarentegen gewoon deze plaat op, in combinatie met de verslaving naar je wens, en maak er een mooi (gezond) 2017 van!

Author: Frank Geerligs
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
Pavillon 666
8/10
27.02.2017

« What rejects my soul, what creates my emptiness »

Ces premières paroles extraient du titre « Insignificant Sense » résument parfaitement les étapes que votre esprit et vos sens vont traverser à l’écoute de ce magnifique album des Ukrainiens de Crypt of Silence.

Ce second album, « Awareness Ephemera » (sorti en 2016 chez Solitude Prod.), est une invitation au questionnement sur des sujets tels que la vie, la mort, la tristesse, le désespoir… Un album de Doom /Death dans la plus pure tradition du genre, pas la peine de chercher ici une quelconque originalité, les membres de Crypt of Silence font ce qu’ils aiment et réussissent à le retranscrire de la plus belle des manières. Une guitare extrêmement lourde, une seconde avec des lignes mélodiques et lancinantes se marient parfaitement à une voix gutturale pleine de désespoir. Les influences du groupe telles que Saturnus, Shape of Despair, Agalloch… sont bien présentes, sans pour autant tomber dans le plagia. Le jeu de batterie d’Andriy Buchinskyi est assez fantastique si on y pose attentivement l’oreille. Il aurait pu se contenter du strict minimum, l’ambiance étant déjà posée, mais tout ce qu’il intègre rend cet album plus construit, notamment sur les titres « Insignificant Sense » et « Life Passed By » (une ombre de Rick Miah).

Les 4 titres (de plus de 15 minutes chacun) composant cet album, ne pourront laisser indifférent tout bon fan de Doom. Quelques passages de guitares claires et de chuchotements sont parfaitement bienvenus sur « Insignificant Sense » avant de sublimes montées, mêlées de puissance et de lourdeur.

Crypt of Silence nous gratifie également d’un magnifique clip accompagnant le single « Meridian » de cet album.

55 minutes de sombre bonheur que je ne peux que vous recommander… Recommander, car je ne peux vous l’ordonner (dommage).

Author: Lex
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
Review
Lords of Metal
7.6/10

Death doom band album I-don’t-know-how-many from Russian label Solitude Productions. ‘Beyond Shades’ by this combo from two years ago really appealed to me. Well thought-out death doom which reminded me of a rawer mix of Officium Triste and Mourning Beloveth. When it comes to that nothing has changed with ‘Awareness Ephemera’. Still that same mix and once again four songs, now clocking in at 54 minutes. Still nothing new under the sun but once again really well-executed, thus making it go down really well. However, it would be nice if some new elements were added to the sound on the net album. Because for the music Crypt Of Silence plays we already have the two earlier mentioned bands.

Author: Marcel H.
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