originally written by Thomas Creager
A Storm of Light is a post-metal/doom outfit, a genre I am innovatively labeling “post-doom”. I know, I’ve blazed a few trails in my day. Anyway, as you could probably guess, such a label can only indicate one thing: they have a major hard-on for atmosphere. The entire hour long experience is a crushing voyage into the dark, impenetrable depths of literary ambience. The guitars are a massive tide, constantly crashing against the listener’s ear. The vocalist’s throaty, bellowed voice echoes throughout like a foghorn, the only semblance of humanity in an environment entirely hostile to light or life. When listening to A Storm of Light the metaphors and imagery pops into one’s head effortlessly.
The middle of the album encapsulates the band’s formula at its finest. The varied complexity of “Mass” is engrossing, the riffs and chants of “Leaden Tide” are haunting, the lyrics of “Black Ocean” are absolutely infectious (try not to join in when “We will kill / for blood and money” is despondently sung your way), and the atmospherics on “Thunderhead” are eerie and powerful. Where And We Wept the Black Ocean Within stumbles, however, is the last three tracks. For fifteen minutes, the enveloping atmosphere A Storm of Light spent so much time creating loses steam until it comes to a complete stop. The closing song, “Iron Heart”, is dull compared to earlier moments. Rather disappointing.
The album also doesn’t have much staying power. Once the freshness and novelty of an hour’s worth of nautical dirges wore off, I would get halfway through the album and start itching to put something with a bit more substance, a bit more memorable, on.
All things considered, though, And We Wept the Black Ocean Within is enough to satisfy a temporary doom craving. It’s a fun ride, but ends sooner than you like, leaving you wandering in search of something new rather quickly.
