Album Review // 2022-12-12

White Ward

False Light

Released: 2022-06-17

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I remember listening to a song by this band when I had my channel. It felt so chill and I had a hard time getting into it, but I still kept them in the back of my mind because I wanted to check more of them out. And I do feel like my taste has changed, like it does once in a while. A song is just a song.

The way this band seems to compose, according to Yuriy, is through a steady stream of creative energy. Their songs come together quickly. That kind of energy will likely continue for many years to come. I love hearing about this kind of talent!

I think fans will agree that this album is quite a bit different than past albums. It might be easier for me to accept, as they are new to me. I did check out the previous album after finishing my review to see what I would pick out from the comparison.

The name White Ward apparently comes from the idea of the stark and isolating walls in a psychiatric ward. I don't know for sure if this is true, but it makes sense, as they seem to address some mental health subjects. And it also makes you think of the loneliness of mental health.

The title, False Light, makes me think about things that appear to be great or positive, but are in fact based on insincerity. We, in reality, have all experienced this, so I think it is easy to identify with. 

Artwork

The picture of a house that has seen better days reminds me of the house I grew up in. I was shown pictures of how my parents started. Bullet holes and everything through it, missing walls, abandoned. I am going to assume this photo doesn't move on to anything better, but stays there; stays as this empty, alone, dilapidated structure.

Mood

Feels like someone who keeps getting a burst of energy to move forward, and then hits a wall. And somehow, they keep getting that burst. It seems momentarily optimistic, and then like things get hard. The word resilience comes to mind.

Vocals

There were two guest clean vocalists on this album. I think they both worked. Vitaliy Havrilenko's vocal felt particularly retro in Cronus. I felt like I had timetravelled to the 80's. This mixture isn't something you hear a tonne. The talking/singing done by Jay Gambit, I also enjoyed. It felt more unique. This album is much heavier on the clean vocals than fans might have gone into this expecting. The high harsh vocal is good, but I have definitely heard similar sounding vocals in other bands. I hate making comparisons, but I really thought of Marcus Bischoff (of Heaven Shall Burn). I have actually enjoyed the passion of this style of vocal, though I do find I like it in small bits. I get sick of it, listening to it in a whole album. The deeper growl, I like. The clips, not so much. I find them distracting and I can't quite make them out.

Music

Overall, the music is the standout. Overall I enjoyed it, quite a bit more than I expected I would. It has a beauty to it, a jaggedness, and a flow to it. There were songs that felt out of place, such as the beginning of Silence Circles. It just seemed abruptly different from other songs, and almost like metalcore amongst jazzy post-black metal. It felt like it was going to fall into breakdowns, but it didn't. I suppose some songs really are quite different from each other, but not as steeply as this one. I don't think just any heavy band can bring in less traditional elements, such as a saxophone, and do it so well. Anytime there is sax, there is a laid-back quality. This album has featured it more heavily than previous albums. I heard the keyboardist talking about using the right type of keyboard, and keeping things darker and less epic. I think that was accomplished. I, personally, find myself drawn to metal bands that have keyboard elements. Also, another notable characteristic of this album: for having such long songs, I have to say, they never feel like they were too long to me, and I am someone who lacks attention span. The drums have the tight timing as seen in doom, blastbeats as seen in death or black metal, and of course, jazziness, at times. The variety keeps me happy.

Leviathan

The name of the song, I think, refers to how big the world can be. I think this speaks to the fact that you can be in a city surrounded by many people, and still be alone. You could literally be dead in you apartment, and no one might know.

This city is deaf
Its nights are endless
Its walls are tall
My prayers are worthless
This purgatory is blind
Its days are countless
Its ditches are deep
Your prayers are worthless

Salt Paradise

This feels like a situation that is hard to escape, but it seems to be something you have had a part in creating.

These walls beget a homogeneous mass that pushes me away
I hope that yet there is another world, a better place
From a slippery slope, I fall
Trying to reach the peak
Rolling down like a stone
Greedy and never meek

Phoenix

This is a sad picture of the idea that there is always an asshole in any group, a terrible thing happening to someone, an evil seed growing. Life is unsettled and relies on other people's choices. And sometimes, it isn't your fault. You never caused the fire.

Frigid birds fly onward the north
Surpassing the distance and gravity
They yet don't know that there is no home
No place to build a nest
The rest no longer matters
The sacred land fell prey to fire
And someone's evil will

Silence Circles

I think this song is about not taking responsibility for your actions. If you react a certain way, no one made you do it. You can live your life blaming everyone else. And there are people that are enablers. They give strength to people who will take advantage, and not take responsibility. I have been that person. I think the song title is alluding to the circle of this behaviour.

Itching palms turn into fists
The stronger always blames the weaker
Beloved ones are enemies
A broken soul doesn't flitter

Silence is your tomb
Stop being a target
Choose your destiny
Keep your finger on a trigger
Because you can

Cronus

This seems to be giving up, because there is infiltration of a system that should keep people safe, with wrong motives. There is no safety.

A lifeless heart is mute
A vivid flash is rust
The lack of love nurtures the drama
Eroded trust will be never rebuilt
Ignorant fools elect their kings
To set the rules
To get away with any crime

False Light

I like these words. No one is perfect. No one is always right. Why do we pretend we are?

The gates of hell are open
The nether world is empty
We are the slaves of cluelessness and fear
All of our deeds are real
We are the demons who pretend to be
Vestal and righteous
Vestal and righteous

Playlist Picks

It was easy to pick the songs to go on my playlist. 

Phoenix will make it to my list. It has a great buildup, great escalation, great riff, great entrance of the sax into the song. If every song on this album was as good as this one, it would be breathtaking.

Cronus will also make it to my list. There is lots of contrast in this song, lots of genres represented. Nice!