The Wake is a Romanian/German duo and the album "Earth´s Necropolis" is their debut album and the result of 8 years work. Travis Smith (Death, Kind Diamond, Opeth) contributed to this release with his occult and dark art, while a few musicians joined as guest vocalists, such as Costin-Alexandru Chioreanu (Bloodway), Michael Pilat (ex-The Ocean) and Joshua Kabe Ashworth (Society’s Finest, ex-Zao).
What we get here is pure black metal with inspiration from bands like Dissection, Venom and Bathory, but their style also reminds me of groups like Immortal, Darkthrone and Dark Funeral. The album also shows a powerful melancholic and melodic side and sometimes reminds me of bands like old Anathema, My Dying Bride and Cradle Of Filth. So in other words it´s obvious that The Wake plays a style of black metal that is very aggressive, dark, raw, melodic and traditional and if you are looking for that typical black metal sound from the 90´s you should check this out.
The nine ferocious tracks on the album are filled with vicious black metal that shows no sign of sympathy and they are also a fine reminder of the glory days of the genre. Every song has its own shining moment which grabs you by the throat and throws you into the dark abyss but the best songs for me are undoubtedly "Proem", "Ship Of Hope", "Earth's Necropolis" and "Closure".
The only problem I have with this album is the mix, because by putting the drums right in front leads to a fuzzy wall of vocals, rhythm and bass and even if I am used to this sort of mix over the years I think a better production would have been better for this album. It´s not bad but it could have been better.
But overall I think that The Wake accomplish their goal with this album and that is to show the world that black metal has returned and I think you should check this out if you are a fan of old black metal!
Link: Melodic
