One Listen Review
1st Listen 11 Nov 26
Reviewed 13 Nov 26
Silvertomb – The Interpretation of Nightmares
Steamhammer
Released 13 Nov 26
Seven years! That is how long we have had to wait for Silvertomb’s sophomore album, The Interpretation of Nightmares. After the release of their excellent debut, ‘Edge of Existence’, the Type O Negative alumni, Johnny Kelly and Kenny Hickey were pushed down an unexpected hiatus. Covid and personal issues being the main delaying reasons.
The good news is the boys are back, and they have released an album that is the finest slap of retrospective doom you could imagine. Indeed, calling this a doom album does it a massive disservice. This is a metal album. This leaks late 60’s and 70’s metal out of its pores. You can even hear a Beatles influence in the closing track, ‘When will you Learn’.
But let us get back to the beginning. The 8 track album opens with a foreboding, slow riff and Hickey delivers an Ozzy style vocal as ‘Brain Matter No God’ develops. Keyboards provide an almost uplifting mood, compared to the riff, as the track proclaims that ‘there is no God’. A fine start that Silvertomb attempt to destroy with the utterly pointless ‘Ascension’. It has an insistent guitar riff that is needed, and the best component of the song is that it blends seamlessly into track 3, ‘Graves in the Sky’.
This is where the band start to bleed the 70’s influence. This is not a heavy song, it is not doom. This is atmospheric metal delivered with aplomb. The rest of the almost 33 minute
long album is similar. Yes, we do have doomier moments, ‘Prayer for the Paranoid’, but again it is not doom. It is just really good!
Perhaps the most pleasing aspect is that it is not a Type O clone. Only one track is reminiscent of that band, ‘No Way to Live’. This song is the only one to have a riff that, if slowed down, could be Type O Negative. But it is faster, more, jolly compared to their old band. (Jolly is utterly the wrong word, but check it out to see what I mean).
By the time the absolutely outstanding ending to the final track slips away, the guitar work is mesmerising, you are left with the feeling that you need to check out their debut again. Then, you will fire up The Interpretation of Nightmares again, because it is, quite simply, a really good album!
Do not sleep on this!
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