Artist: Waterglass
Title: …and the Bleak shall inherit
Genre: Darkwave / Gothic
Release Date: 1st March 2013
Label: Watertight Records
Flash review
To be honest, when I entered the path to the bleak that shall inherit, I did it as an absolutely ignoramus, then even when WATERGLASS are around since the early Nineties, with “…and the Bleak shall inherit...” as their second album, this is my knowingly first contact with the three-piece outfit from England. And so I was completely clueless what to expect, because sifting the list of influences, it could mean all and nothing. It contains names like A-HA, BLACK SABBATH, JOHNNY CASH, THE COCTEAU TWINS, THE CURE, THE DAMNED, DEPECHE MODE, NEPHILIM, GYBE, JETHRO TULL, TOM PETTY, THE SMITHS… guess I can stop here ´cause I think it´s clear what I mean. And so I stumbled into the first song with all these places on my map, but without a given direction. And now, being back again I just can say the list isn´t as odd as it seems.
The first thing that leaps to the eye (or better the ear) is the atmospheric and emotional density that´s woven in the fabric of the songs, spiralling over the merging territories of Goth, Wave, Rock… with a variety of moods as extensive as the sonic landscape the sounds are spanning. Let´s call them swansongs, dark and troubled, luminous and melancholic with that oppressive spell, emanating from the blend of Victoria´s fragile, glass-like voice and the web of ubiquitous guitars, ranging from the patterns of pure Goth Rock (‘Bleak’, ‘Not with me’) to the shimmering colours of Dark Pop (‘Far from faith’), from the hypnotizing scent of a dreamlike void (‘Someone like you’) to the creepiness of a lynch-like chanson noire (‘Only You’), from icy avant-garde (‘Station One’) to the beautiful welkin of sadness and despair (‘Come as You were’).
Was there a little incredulity about the vocals in the beginning (in regards to the fear it could stay locked in its crystal cage), so it becomes pure joy to see it grow and metamorphose in accordance with the shape of the songs. Angry, yearning, despaired, seducing… the vocals are the friar's lantern that leads you through the dark forests and the sparkling oceans. Having travelled through the 10 tracks you´re left behind, hoping that the bleak will inherit…
Conclusion: WATERGLASS´s second fulltime output is a beautiful piece of sound, filled with a thick atmospheric pulchritude and a musical variety that mirrors the rugged coastlines, the open autumn fields, the opaque forests, claustrophobic deserts and groundless oceans their songs are indwelling…
Rating: 8 / 10
