The third full-length from one of Sacramento's best kept secrets, is an ambient sludge doozy.
In the early stages of the band, (waning) was simply an ambient duo that began to drift towards a metal sound. After a few years of dabbling in both worlds, they have found the perfect blend of the two through keyboard driven melodies mixed into Neurosis-inspired sludge.
Songs like "The Silver Woman" showcase vocalist/keyboard player Susan Hunt's voice as a timid haunting angel. This is an approach I can't say I've ever heard outside of (waning) and one they do very well. Her voice serves as the perfect antithesis to Jim Wilig (who also preforms clean vocals) and Ian Black's trade off roars on songs like "The Grove/Rootless."
The instrumentation is exactly what you would hope from bands in their genre. The album's title-track is a piano-led and beautiful, before the rest of the band comes crashing into a mid-tempo black metal inspired crescendo. The song "Seismic" is just that, seismic. It is the band at an epic level absolutely crushing. Several songs on this album are ones that build suspense through beauty. As a listener, I know a turn is coming, but I'm not sure when. This creates an intense reaction once it finally does it. There were literally chills a few times.
As much as I enjoy their back-catalog, this is easily their strongest work, and will hopefully be the one to propel them to new heights.
You can stream the full record here through Burninhell Records.
