Silent Deep Ocean - In Dark Eternity

Silent Deep Ocean is a funeral doom band, of international origins with its two members, Gregory Ritchey and Tehina Spasova, hailing from Texas and Bulgaria, respectively.  It initially began as a one-man project, with Gregory the sole member.  It has since expanded to include Tehina, who provides vocals along with piano and guitar on some songs.  

“In Dark Eternity,” is the band’s fourth full-length album.  Tehina joining the band has really upped Silent Deep Ocean’s doom game, adding a whole new dimension to their sound.   She has her own doom metal project called Destruction of Orion.  Last year that project released “Decreasing Brightness,” so if you like funeral doom I would suggest checking that album out as well. 

What I’ve always liked about this band is that even though it is firmly in the funeral doom side of the genre, it doesn’t always sound hopeless, cavernous, or utterly devoid of life.  For me, Ritchey’s songwriting has always been quite a bit more expansive and open for the genre.  To me, that is a good thing.  “In Dark Eternity,” finds Ritchey’s songwriting being zeroed in and finding the sound that works best for him.    

Silent Deep Ocean’s music has always been quite dynamic but never before has it been presented this way.  The music across the album’s 9 songs and 1:02 runtime can be crushing as the depths of the ocean or as gentle as a breeze.  It’s the journey, not the destination that matters, and each song here lives, and succeeds, by that notion.

“In Dark Eternity,” is an album with nearly immeasurable depth; each song is loaded with layers that build up a world and story unto itself.  This album requires your attention and isn’t something that is going to smack you in the face.  This is music you dive into, live in, and succumb to.  A true doom fan could put this on any time of the day but if you’re not used to the genre, this isn’t going to be something you’ll want to play while, say, cooking dinner.  

But once you let it flow into you, and you into it, you’ll begin to see the tapestry form as it weaves in and out of your subconsciousness.   It’s a long album with so many details but since I don’t  have the time to write a book I’m going to hit my favorite parts.  But each moment is worth your time. 

The album begins with the intro track, “Preludium,” and features oceanic sounds, spoken word, and beautiful keys.  It’s a short song, under a minute, but perfectly sets up the rest of the album.  It flows into the first full song, “Lamente de Profundis.”  

This song begins with flute and waves gently cresting against rocks of an unknown shore.  Tehina’s vocals are lithe and ghostly, smoothly gliding through the wind that comes along with the music.  Around the 1:38 mark, the distortion hits like an oncoming storm but Tehina defies the heavier winds, her voice ringing through like a lighthouse calling to a ship.  

However, she also privides the growls as well! Hers are super low, more like a force of nature or another instrument than just a standard growling performance. She glides along with the music, which is both light and dark.  The middle portion of the song is very organic, pairing clean tones of serenity with bleak metal elements.  It’s gothic and monstrous, unhurried and urgent all at the same time. 

“Withering Flowers Upon The Cenotaph,” is a mesmerizing song that gripped me from the very first clean tone.  It’s a song made of a tragic atmosphere, the bass taking the reins as the growls and guitar lay down a field of desolation.  Tehina’s vocals raise the song up among the clouds, offering a different flavor that both compliments and contrasts.  

As the heavier parts fade away after the halfway mark, the song gets very quiet and one can almost hear the burgeoning growth of life among the chaos.  This song is very moody and I’m impressed by the deceptively simple guitar that helps build this world, conjuring images as it reaches its zenith in the final moments with crushing rhythms that almost made me lose my breath.  

The title track is perhaps my favorite on the album–title tracks, in my opinion, should always impress!  The keys create a lush melody within seconds and it keeps going as the guitars/bass bring a thunderous performance.  As the clouds clear away, the keys get more emotional and intricate before giving ground to the death growls, which speak from afar like a scolding, displeased ancient deity. 

This song is one of the more expansive ones; from about 3:42 all the way to around the 7 minute mark, I was immersed in a swirling combination of clean keys, steady drumming, darkened riffs and imaginative songwriting that offers a lot but does so in a subtle fashion that builds up second by second.

Another highlight for me is “O’ My Darkened Angel.”  Gothic doom was my first experience with the genre so this song just hit the spot inside me that still craves this type of doom.  This song is one of those that uses liminal spaces—where the space between the notes speaks as loudly as the doom itself.  It’s a wheels within wheels experience that is as macabre as it is majestic.

The slow, hard, unrelenting nature of the song perfectly exemplifies the power of doom.  But the instruments, the keyboards, and all the little details make it a Gothic epic that has an arcane, regal quality to it.  This song is darkness refined and redefined. 

Silent Deep Ocean’s “In Dark Eternity,” is exactly how funeral doom should be.  It’s slow, heavy, dark but steps outside the box to cast a different shade on the genre.  Those who have previously shied away from this style would do well to try this album and give the genre another chance.  As for those awesome people who already like funeral doom, there is no reason why this album shouldn’t be in your collection.