While Heaven Wept--Chapter One: 1989-1999
Metal Supremacy 2002
Being a fan of underground music, you're sometimes faced with an excruciating inaccessiblity to the output you crave. Case in point: While Heaven Wept. Over the course of a decade, this band has put out two CDs and two 7"ers (one a split with Cold Mourning). Unfortunately, each of these releases have come in editions of 1000 copies or less, making them rather difficult to come by. Thanks to Gremany's Metal Supremacy label, now all the recordings of While Heaven Wept's first ten years have been packaged together in this amazing double LP, Chapter One: 1989-1999. This collection is ultimately a monument to the brilliance of this band and the songwriting skills of leader Tom Phillips. It all confirms that While Heaven Wept is not only the best epic doom band in the world but one of the best bands, period.
For those unfamiliar with While Heaven Wept's sound, they play a flawless brand of epic doom metal that is very symphonic in nature. Majestic and melancholy guitar passages (both electric and acoustic) are often augmented by tasteful synth accompaniment. This is all topped off with impassioned vocals which are of a soaring, vibrato-heavy, operatic nature. Many bands have incorporated these characteristics into their music throughout the years, but none with the grace, beauty, mastery, or overall success of While Heaven Wept. This music is the stuff of legend.
One thing very clear about While Heaven Wept is that, while most people merely write tunes, Tom Phillips composes songs. Too many bands of late try to pile up time signature changes in an attempt to compensate for weak riffs. Not so in the case of While Heaven Wept. Such shifts are executed with purpose and surgical precision. That being said, what is truly amazing about this band is their ability to remain brilliant over many stylistic shifts. The four songs which comprised the Sorrow of the Angels CD see While Heaven Wept creating possibly the greatest, fully produced epic doom metal album ever. In the next breath, listening to the songs off the band's first 7" reveals While Heaven Wept mastering the doom/death style of bands such as My Dying Bride and Anathema. Even when they step out of the doom realm, While Heaven Wept shines. This is exemplified by the previously unreleased track "Unplentitude." On this song, While Heaven Wept blesses the listener with an alternative/post-modern gem which recalls the greatness of bands like the Chameleons UK. In the end, the three songs which appeared as the Lovesongs of the Forsaken EP outshine all the rest. Most of this particular material is performed acoustically with a rain storm audible in the background. The Sorrow of the Angels material may have fuller production, but this is the stuff that really opens new musical horizons. These three songs take the idea put out there by the opening acoustic strains of the first song on the very first Candlemass album and expand it inconceivably into pure acoustic doom. It is absolute genius. From any angle, While Heaven Wept is without peer.
In virtual obscurity (which is criminal), Tom Phillips has captained While Heaven Wept for over ten magnificent years. With Solstice no longer a band and the off-again/on-again rumblings around Warning, While Heaven Wept stands as the leader and greatest hope for epic doom metal. If Chapter One: 1989-1999 is any indication, the best is yet to come. Please note: true to form, this is a super-limited pressing of 500 copies and, once this is sold out, these particular recordings won't be re-pressed. So, act fast, because when music is this special, it's practically a sin not to have it within your grasp.
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