“I can understand why my mind is plagued.”
Ever since the release of symphonic deathcore band Lorna Shore’s mega hit of an EP And I Return to Nothingness, the genre has been a rather weird place. It’s admittedly grown rather stagnant, and, rather than change things up much at all, bands have been content to follow Lorna Shore’s lead. They write their songs with their focus on enhancing the breakdown, rather than doing what Lorna Shore really did that made the EP so successful, where they kept the whole song interesting, and made the breakdown a release of the built up energy towards the end of the song, rather than main attraction. Enter symphonic deathcore band A Wake In Providence who seek to shake up the formula a bit with their new album I Write To You, My Darling Decay.
This album sees the band continue down the symphonic-blackened direction that they set themselves upon with their previous album Eternity, except this time, rather than just throwing down more of the dissonant breakdowns with the occasional string/piano section that the genre has come to be associated with, A Wake In Providence have smartly decided to improve their songwriting capabilities. They also continue to improve the strength of their clean choruses they started using on their first album The Black Sun || the Blood Moon and began to refine on their previous album Eternity. This has resulted in an album that, for most of its run time, feels a lot more fluid and dynamic. There’s an effortless streak of weaving in beautiful string sections between the soaring choruses, sung by guitarist Deandre Tyre. These choruses are not dated, unnecessary, or a hollow move to appeal to a wider audience (like so many deathcore choruses tend to feel) – they are actually a crucial component. Of course, the absolutely devastating breakdowns are filled with absolutely devastating screams from Adam Mercer, and really serve to make the album feel epic in a way that other bands in this genre fail to achieve.
This feeling of grandioseness is immediately apparent on the opening two tracks “The Maddening” and “Mournful Benediction“. Both tracks (after the intro of “The Maddening”) start with clean sung choruses trading off screamed passages. These are followed by crushing breakdowns that really in sink the idea that the record will play with your expectations when it comes to what a deathcore album in this sub-genre can do within its run time. “Mournfull Benedictions” even has a really good feature from Shadow of Intent’s Ben Duerr. Following a lovely two minute interlude track “Agony, My Familiar“, we come to “Agonofinis“. It really ups the speed on the album, bringing back technical riffs that wouldn’t feel out of place on their first album The Black Sun || the Blood Moon which are juxtaposed by a very lovely chorus that really makes the song feel unique.
Speaking of choruses giving otherwise crushing songs a unique identity, we come to “And Through The Fog She Spoke“, a track that could easily appear on a Fleshgod Apocalypse record with its song structure and use of beautiful opera like vocals over otherwise speedy death metal. This theme is then continued with the song “In Whispers” which once again ups the pace before ending with yet another lovely chorus.
The strength of the record further increases as the band transitions into my personal favourite song on the album. The title track “I Write To You, My Darling Decay” can only really be a described as a symphonic deathcore song with the structure and varied pace of a prog song. Rounding out the album we have the final three tracks “The Unbound“, “Pareidola” and “I, The Mournful“, which concluding on a very speedy and heavy note that is sure make any fans gleam in excitement.
What’s most surprising about I Write To You, My Darling Decay is how the transitions between tracks are seamless. While doing my initial listen of this album, I had to look up several times to check where I was, only to find that I was several tracks further in that I thought. This is a very welcome surprise that goes beyond the flow between songs, as the riffs and themes fit together so well. It truly feels like your listening to one very dynamic song rather than a collection of songs. Not many bands, much less deathcore bands, can pull this off – it is a very exciting sight to behold.
Overall, there’s really not a lot that I can say that I dislike about the album as a whole. The interlude of the album “Agony, My Familiar” makes sense in the context of the album, but I do think it should have come in a little farther into the album; but this is more of a nitpick than a real criticism. The albums does run a bit long at and hour and one minute long, but again, it makes sense when you take a look at the content of the album. It really would be hard to cut something out of the album without potentially removing something important.
In closing, A Wake In Providence‘s third album I Write To You, My Darling Decay is the revitalization that the symphonic deathcore genre needed. Instead of focusing on the over the top breakdowns (of which there are still a couple of on the album), the band have smartly focused on tightening up the overall songwriting and continuing to improve the strength of their choruses. As a result, the album is made all the better for it, providing a hopeful future for symphonic deathcore as a whole.
8/10
I Write To You, My Darling Decay releases this Friday 26th July and can be pre-ordered here.