ALBUM REVIEW: The Return of Magik – Rwake
A return is exactly what we have on our hands here. It has been over a decade since the last release from six-piece RWAKE. The title, The Return Of Magik, is also apt, because the six tracks on offer with this new album are a slice of audio magic. Visceral and engrossing. Following a path of doom laced psychedelia. Fourteen years is a long time and many things have changed. Life experiences and real world reflections have been distilled into these new tracks. Already they have found a home in the live sets and are now set to provide an immersive suit for the next chapter of RWAKE.
This is an album of expansive highs and crushing lows. RWAKE are happy to combine powerful doom drenched distortion and carefully crafted moments of immersive grace. This is immediately apparent on opening track You Swore We’d Always Be Together. Opening with a delicate, acoustic framework. The passages swell and the band are happy to let loose a crushing onslaught at the perfect time. The overall effect of which is a track that ensnares right from the beginning. The guitar work is the pinnacle of the enchantment. Delivering as much heartfelt emotion through the melodies as it does unburdened aggression through the hammering riffs. There is no illusion that RWAKE have been idle for the last 14 years.
With Stardust Flowers stretches and flexes the extreme metal muscles. Guttural bellows cut through the mix while rhythm section roll an unstoppable rhythm. Once again, the guitars are commanding. Searing lead lines converge and the riffs chug through with engrossing groove. Like the opening track, RWAKE once again prove themselves the masters of composition. The dynamics shift to delivery overwhelming highs and emotion drenched lows that offer doom, post metal, prog and more extreme elements with a mastery. It’s a testament that they can combine so much within one track and make it a clear and unified sound. An absolute shining highpoint within an expertly crafted album.
For all of its majesty. There is a sense that all of the power is in the first half of the record. The opening salvos feature some of the finest prog adjacent doom metal that anyone could wish for. However, the penultimate track feels a little over the top. In After Reverse has all of the elements that have preceded it combined, and is a fine standalone track. However, after what has been a relatively breathless opening section it feels like a lot of the same and as such, unfortunately, a bit forgettable. With the closing track rounding everything out with a calm piano based construction. It’s a soothing balm to the powerful onslaught, and is perfect to close an album. However, it doesn’t have quite the same standalone presence of the other numbers.
For whatever short comings could be picked at, The Return of Magik is a heavyweight in every sense. The sextet has delivered an engaging and emotive bruiser and these tracks will leave a lasting impression on the fanbase and will certainly prove to be a wonderful starting off point for those new to the RWAKE style. The musicianship on offer is of the highest calibre and with the combination outright riff laced menace, progressive melody and tender grace it is a standout album for their return after ten years away.
Rating: 8/10
The Return Of Magik is out now via Relapse Records.
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