Artist: Whispers In The Shadow
Title: Rapture
Genre: Post Punk / Gothic Rock / Dark Wave
Release Date: 13th June 2025
Label: Icy Cold Records
Album Review
So here’s a band that I’ve never heard of before that just crossed my path for the first time. WHISPERS IN THE SHADOW are an Austrian 5-piece that have been releasing albums and infusing the musical landscape with their dark aural juices since the mid-1990s, their name being inspired by an HP Lovecraft story called ‘The Whisperer In The Darkness’. ‘Rapture’ is their 12th studio release and comes quick on the heels of their 2023 album ‘Ghosts’, which I’ve not heard yet, based on how this goes I’ll be having a butchers later. (Cockney Rhyming slang for “Butchers Hook / Having a Look”. Some info there for those who don’t know and are saying “What the hell have butchers got to do with anything?”) Without further ado lets dive in and see what I’ve been missing for the past 30 odd years...
The first Track ‘Strike The Pose’ sounds like THE HIVES crossed with IGGY POP with a Johnny Rotten throaty gargle and verbal delivery at times. Its abrasive and pointed and punk. It sneers whilst your “temples are cleaned out”. ‘Zealots’ shifts the tone, it’s more hypnotic, drones focus the attention on a vocal that peers through central tube of drums. It feels like the guitars are wrapping around those drums like a honey lattice. ‘Illusions Of Grandeur’ shift the focus again, this time into a pleasant gallop. It reminds me of the grandeur of BIG COUNTRY back in the day when they’d exude bagpipes from the guitars that aggrandised the vast expanses of the Scottish landscape. One could say that grand landscapes fed the delusions of royalty?
What I like about ‘Flight Of Fancy’ is the simplicity of the individual elements but put together in a pleasing to the ear symmetry. ‘Endure’ harks back to the days of THE MISSION, BALAAM & THE ANGEL, EVERY NEW DEAD GHOST, breezy Gothic Rock. There’s enough space in the composition to allow air and light to ruffle the cobwebs without penetrating too deeply into the shadows. The vocal doesn’t start until mid-track but by this time it feels already airborne and synced in. Loving the vocals and the drumming.
And now on to ‘From The Mouth Of Babes’ where the lyric goes “Picture yourself hanging upside down from the tree like a child, let me hear it from the mouth of the babes”. This is just a simple pleasure on the ears a melding of musical ideas and verbosity. Like the previous track its airy, big and spacious and conjures images of Sylvanian promontories. ‘Mono Cryptical’ on the other hand is a bit darker and eastern in tone, like the title meanings are or feel hidden and just out of view, But it’s still a symmetrical listen with an easy flow.
And finally ‘Origin Story’ with a beefy bass that’s PETER HOOK groin area snarl, It’s dark. “Have you listened to a word I’ve said / the King is dead” one lyric goes. “Let me tell you about the origins of the world” goes another. “All these things will be yours if you believe in me” are another. This is biblical, the lyrics are clear about blind belief, reward, corruption, SIN! There’s also a portentousness about this which is in the vein of those Swiss merchants of the esoteric Schammasch. A brilliant track to end on.
All in all a brilliant album that took nearly four months to record and the fact that its only eight tracks long allows for the thorough crafting of each track. Forty minutes listening time is perfect! What else do you want me to say here? Airy, spaced, evenly paced and with what I consider to be symmetry. I shall definitely listen to ‘Ghosts’ now! I’m done!
Tracklist
01. Resume The Pose
02. Zealots
03. Illusions Of Grandeur
04. Flights Of Fancy
05. Endure
06. From The Mouths Of Babes
07. Mono Cryptical
08. Original Story
Line-up
Ashley Dayour - Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
Martin Gutmann - Keyboards
Fork - Bass
Alexander Kuhmayer - Drums
Lazy Schutz - Guitars
Website
https://www.whispersintheshadow.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10
