Really the only good album released by this band in their fairly short career, Dark the Suns in a gothic death/doom band that hasn't done much in their eight year career, but their second album "All Ends in Silence" could arguably be their best release. Although, its not clear how much of a compliment that really is, considering that their other two albums ("In Darkness Comes Beauty", "Sleepwalking in a Nightmare") were completely forgettable, and while "AEIS" is certainly superior to those, it lacks reason to be held in any higher regard other than being something enjoyable to listen to once or twice, but that's about it.
Musically, the sound is a straight to the point mesh of gothic metal and death/doom, with melodic and not terribly heavy guitar work, a lot of "wintery" (if you will) keyboard work, male death growls and female clean singing, all while songs all follow a very simple "verse, chorus, verse" structure. While the formula works, it completely lacks in any and all forms of artistic vision or technical skill and ends up a very shallow sounding record in terms of technicality. Songs follow the same style and leaves no room for innovation, with every song having the same style, feel and structure. While this does indeed make the album repatitive, the songs do work and its never all that boring, they are entertaining and dark and due contain a sense of sadness to them and the emotional aspects do feel genuine rather than the forced efforts to be saddened by bands like "Wine From Tears". And yes the songs are surprisingly catchy, with the title track, "Gone", "Sleepless Angels" and "The Dead End" all motivating for a few replays. And while the album does sound a bit amateurish at times, it never sounds "lazy" and the album does entertain from start to finish.
At this point it might be worth mentioning that a lot of the positives of the album ware out after the second or third listen and due to the album's repetitive sound and structure and lack of any real innovation. It gets old quick and ends up very forgettable. Other problems would include performance. Nothing is theoretically "bad" but none of its all that good either. It at times just feels like the band members are playing it safe and going through the motions. But one flaw I want to point out that did rub me the wrong way was with the vocals. Let's start with the male singing, which go back and forth between basic death growls and these hushed whispers. The growls get the job done, but also sound very thin and weak and just don't have very much force or impact of any kind (some male clean singing might have helped in terms of variety as well). The other side of the vocal work is the female cleans that struggle with a lack of presence. See she doesn't sing on her own, instead sings a duet with the male vocalist during the chorus's and despite his weak performance, it still manages to overlap and essentially outshine the female vocals. And along with that are some pretty silly lyrics as well.
But even with all its flaws, there is nothing *terrible* about the record, in the sense that the album just becomes painful to listen to. It is entertaining and catchy but its repetitive and unoriginal nature makes it completely unremarkable. Like I said, there is nothing awful about the album but it does leave a lot to be desired.
(Originally posted on the Metal Archives under username "EschatonOmega")
