The Inside Room

Eight years after its release, Warning’s second and final studio record “Watching from a Distance” is still considered a doom metal essential and lead man Pat Walker is seen as a modern day icon of the genre. Of course Warning is no longer with us and instead we have 40 Watt Sun as Walker’s new focus, although it acts as more of a reinvention of said band rather than a completely new project. Save for a few minor differences, this is pretty much the same band. So it almost goes without saying that anyone who didn’t care for Warning’s slow and repetitive brand of doom will not find anything here to change their minds, and fans of Warning may be put off by the change in tone heard in 40WS.

Style and song structure are basically the same, with each song being a slow brooding dirge, with guitars playing thick, moody melodies and Pat Walker’s vocals singing saddened tales of failed relationships, regret and loneliness. Simplicity is the name of the game here; songs follow a very basic structure, instrumentation has no technical flare, and each track lacks any real progression. That’s not to say this is a bad thing. I rather enjoyed the minimalistic style of Warning so it’s good to see it here as well. So yes, Warning and 40 Watt Sun share many similarities but there are a few things that separate the two. One of the main ones is tempo. 40 Watt Sun is definitely faster, though that isn’t saying much. Songs are not the plodding heavy walls of sound heard on “Watching…” but still stay true to the dirge like style that Walker is known for performing. It is not as devastating as before, in fact are actually quite beautiful, even hopeful, most of the time. Obviously this very simplistic style of music is not for everyone, and inevitably will lead some to absolutely hate it.

But obviously Patk Walker's style of doom is not known for its extreme technical abilities. In fact one of the chief reasons behind the success of “Watching from a Distance” was its draining atmosphere. Like previously said record, this album is also very emotive in nature, although in bit of a different context. “WFAD” weaved together intense feelings of crippling depression, loss and loneliness. Here, on the other hand, that bleak and tragic atmosphere is no longer as prevalent. Instead, “The Inside Room” conveys a strong sense of longing and vaguely melancholic nostalgia. The kind of the feelings one gets from thinking about the good times one had with someone who, for one reason or another, is not in your life anymore. This less tragic atmosphere can be attributed somewhat to the less bleak melodies and faster tempo. That being said, despite being considerably less depressing, “The Inside Room” is still an incredibly emotional powerhouse. This is for the most part due to Patrick Walker nasally, emotionally charged voice. They perfectly fit the feelings behind the genuine and confessional lyrics. His singing is so strong in its longing and sadness that it’s hard not to feel something listening to it. He is the backbone behind the band’s emotional power, but it won’t appeal to everyone. I’ve heard “whiney” and “irritating” to describe the vocals as well, but for me, I absolutely love the sound of this guy’s voice.

Ultimately “The Inside Room” does very little musically to differ itself from the music of Warning. However its shift in tone does plenty to put it on its own pedestal. Naturally it won’t appeal to everyone, as previously stated. And this shift in tone to a more beautiful nostalgic record from the heartbreak of before will also rub some fans the wrong way, but I found this album to be well worth its 47 minute run time. I look forward to seeing future releases from these guys.

(Originally posted on Sputnikmusic.com)

I wasn't expecting much from this to be honest, I absolutely hated Watching From A Distance, I found it boring, flat, uninspired and way too overrated for its own good. Therefore it comes as a surprise that Warning's spin off project 40 Watt Sun is marginally better. It still sucks mind you, but compared to Warning this shits golden. Gone are the horrendously whining vocals and replaced with what seems like a much better and honest performance by Patrick Walker. The generic melodic doom stuff has been replaced by droning, shoegaze inspired melodies a la Jesu. It adds much more to the atmosphere than Warning ever could have accomplished. It still suffers in a lot of major aspects but at least Patrick and co have stepped up their game.

The problems with 40 Watt Sun seem to have been carried on from the days of Warning. The sound is still very much similar, boring, bland and repetitive with annoying vocals but The Inside Room feels a lot more refined and realized than Watching From A Distance. The vocals aren't as whining which is definitely a good thing, they have more power behind them, lest teenage angst. They still sound fucking weird mind you but at least they're an improvement over his previous work. The atmosphere is more powerful, more crushing. Guitars have been muddied up a lot, distortion has increased, giving the guitars a thick and crunchy tone. It adds a lot more to the atmosphere and I won't deny it creates a decent wall of sound effect. They're suitably hypnotic, drawing a lot of influence from the drone and shoegaze genres respectively. They're still highly repetitive, but the droning nature of the compositions works in their favor. The tempo department is much more challenging giving the music a claustrophobic and oppressive feel. Whilst Warning would do all they can to ensure that they kept at the same lifeless pace for the entire album, 40 Watt Sun take a much more determined effort in mixing things up a bit. It's a lot slower paced allowing for the music to be heavier. Guitars drone on with malicious intent, creating a decent wall of sound. It's not as riff oriented as Warning, allowing much more for textured riffs to shine through. Whilst the riffs themselves are generic and boring, I greatly appreciate the change in style from Warning allowing for a much better sound to come through.

Whilst I don't particularly like The Inside Room it's a whole lot better than Watching From A Distance. The sudden influx of drone and shoegaze sure helps. Whilst it does sound underdeveloped and carries with it a tendency to become extremely monotonous, the glimpses of potential are here. The song structures aren't too bad, there's at least acoustic breaks used for once, adding a bit more to the atmosphere and ensuring that the music doesn't become too monotonous. Vocals still need improving but at least Patrick sounds less whiny, carrying his voice with a greater sense of power and authority. The numerous improvements from Warning still aren't enough for me to consider this a good album however. It feels underdeveloped, songs tend to drag on way longer than they should. Atmosphere can become lost in the sea of highly repetitious song writing. Guitars don't do anything exciting, whilst the drone influence works great they need to become more adept at creating good atmospheres from oppressive drones. Drone in itself is a difficult aspect to get right within the music world and an artist needs to ensure than enough has been given to it to allow it to thrive. 40 Watt Sun have all the intention to be good at writing drones, but they just don't have the talent. There's some pretty good, ethereal shimmering leads here and then but for the most part the guitars are fairly inactive, devoid of anything significant. The wall of sound effect like I mentioned earlier is pretty cool, bringing to mind Jesu, but it doesn't even come close to the sonic power that Jesu has. 40 Watt Sun feel lifeless, diluted. There's not enough ideas on The Inside Room, it feels apathetic and lethargic. Whilst there are all the makings for something actually good buried within here it's mixed in with an ocean of boring ideas that don't go anywhere.

40 Watt Sun, featuring two members of the recently defunct doom outfit Warning, sound like a lamer version of the member's previous band. Warning was not good, mind you, but they were a bit boring and inoffensive more than anything. 40 Watt Sun sheds itself of any potential Warning showed, and sticking it out for the entire length of the album is truly trudging through monotony. The music is lifeless and apathetic, coming off as little more than vaguely irritating background noise. Not much goes on on the album, it's insipid atmosphere lingers while sappy vocals complain of emotional problems. This really is a hard one to get through, it's for the most part perpetually unchanging and it's sound isn't particularly engaging or potent, to say the least.

For all the hype it got, Warning's Watching From A Distance wasn't all that great, however, it wasn't a total abomination to doom metal like some detractors claim. It showed signs of potential in some respects - some of the leads were really cool and the drumming was great, but as a whole it was rather boring. It didn't help that the vocals were kind of annoying and the lyrics were blatantly awful. Here, the lyrics are equally as cringeworthy and the frontman has somehow seemed to have become a much worse singer. At best he sounds apathetic and bored and at worst he sounds like Kermit the Frog after a weeklong binge on downers. His vocals are uncharacteristically deep for someone with such a nasally tone. His voice is very distinct - a prominent English accent with a droning whine. Although he often fluctuates between notes at the end of a verse, they still seem to blend together.

The not-really-riffs function as a vaguely warm cloud of distortion. The guitar work sounds very similar for the entire endurance of the album, save for the occasional lead or the very occasional atmospheric break. This repetitive droning technique could be used to evoke a potent atmosphere, but here it just doesn't. Falling short of any sort of enveloping ambiance, it comes across as thoroughly apathetic and flat. The tone is much weaker than that present on Warning. Sure, you can sometimes make out a melody in the mix, but it is rarely a noteworthy one. Occasionally a lead breaks out over the hum of the pseudo-riffs, but these are much worse than they were in Warning and there is something off about the lead guitar tone. There are only two moments on this album that really evoke any emotions or interest. The leads at the end of "Carry Me Home" don't suffer from the same tonal qualities as the other leads and is actually quite emotionally potent. The acoustic melodies that reside at the end of "Open My Eyes" are quite beautiful. However, it is a bit absurd that these are the highlights of the album. As for the drumming, the tone is rather nice, it is competent, but like so many other things about this album, it is a big step down from the already not that great Warning. The sound is certainly draining, but in the way that it's hard to endure, not in the cathartic emotional sense.

I get what he is trying to portray through his lyrics - longing filtered through the lens of ever-present depression. Unlike Warning, this release seems to be padded with glimmers of hope. Here he sings about the ups and downs of actually being in a relationship instead of "Watching From A Distance" longingly at the girl he loves. These aren't the type of lyrics that would typically go over well in a doom metal setting, and this is certainly no exception to the rule. The other lyrics are about him exploring his emotional issues, which prove just as sappy as they were on Warning.

Honestly, this just feels Warning made worse and toned down in all regards. The vocals don't get quite as melodramatic (can't say the same about the lyrics), but they sound the same continuously and all just kind of blend into a haze of monotony. The largely unchanging drone of the guitar is equally as banal. Although the dudes in this band are obviously trying, they fail to succeed at the brooding emotional atmosphere they are going for. It's no secret that much of Patrick's subject matter is about depression, and in some respects this a more realistic portrait of depression than the romanticized version often dolled out by other bands - for many it is largely an unchanging, draining, tedious and unwanted persisting feeling rather than constant bouts of raw, unhinged agony and complete hatred of every waking minute that goes by.

When reading words from a page, it may be difficult to fathom the allure of Patrick Walker's doom projects. Both Warning and its latter day incarnation, 40 Watt Sun, are outfits which seem to specialize in composing dirges, and relatively simple ones at that. There are not really any hooks, any surprising progression, and most songs typically weigh in above the 10 minute mark. Despite this, the debut offering of 40 Watt Sun has become a release which I am most beguiled with, and due to the simplistic nature of the music, writing this review to explain why is more challenging than it seems.

It is, of course, impossible to discuss the work of Walker et al without touching on the divisive topic of the lyrics. This release unsurprisingly treads little new ground beyond the themes covered in Watching From A Distance, broaching a personal and introspective narrative that walks the line between harrowing and whiny. For a fresh listener, reading these lyrics on a page may suggest a band of brooding adolescents rather than seasoned doom musicians.

It is important, however, to take the lyrical themes in totality alongside the music. When hearing these deeply personal monologues accompanied by the miserable, plodding rhythms and expressed through the vocalist's unique, broken warble, any assumptions of angst are replaced by genuine anguish and, at times, solace.

The chord progressions remain simplistic, but are thick, dense, and melodic when necessary. There are seldom more than three distinct sections in each track, and most are laid out in a basic verse-bridge-chorus arrangement, yet astonishingly most tracks are able to hold my attention fully across their sprawling length. The minimalist song structures and painfully slow tempos act to amplify the transitions between riffs into earth-shattering events with the return to the verse riff in “Restless” and “Open My Eyes” kicking down the doors unlike any I have heard in the Warning catalogue.

All the while, the drum and bass playing blend together beautifully. Nothing overly flashy is brought to the fore, but neither member of the rhythm section rests on their laurels. What could have so easily been a simple four on the floor is embellished with great cymbal work, and generic root notes are substituted for counterpointed bass melodies lying beneath the thick sludge of guitar noise.

Unfortunately, like any songwriting process which is so minimalist, the strength of a track rests heavily on the quality of the motifs and melodies. This is generally true of the five tracks on this album except the track “Between Times”, which I find to be a bit of a mess. The composition of this track just seems to sit below the rest, whether it is the unimaginative verse or the clumsy stop-start drum fill into the chorus. The song is an unfortunate slab of filler that I almost always skip when listening the disc through.

Overall, a strong release, though I will not fool myself into saying this is for everybody. Proceed with caution, for these lyrical themes do not gel with everyone, and the basic songwriting style may bore some listeners, but for those with an interest in down-tempo music or Warning's prior releases, this is a must have.

40 Watt Sun are an extremely melancholic, melodic London doom outfit that do their appreciable best to embody an essence of regretful sadness. This is achieved through a very basic, primal shifting of crawling riffing textures, slow, deliberate pacing, and the spectral, quivering, regretfully nostalgic vocals of one Patrick Walker, whom some of you may recognize from his work in Warning . On a basic level, this works incredibly well, at least for a while, and even though I felt some variety could have done wonders for The Inside Room, it’s rainy atmospherics are quite compelling if one has the patience and mood to drown in such a sluggish, dense river, an experience almost like drowning in smoke and molasses.

There are no fancy guitar tricks here, just loose progressions of heavily distorted, ghostly chords, played in a very open style. This lends a very flowing nature to these 5 songs, as each wave of bright, obscure notation flows into the next quite effortlessly, and with feeling. These, along with the vocals, will primarily dictate the enjoyment you will have with 40 Watt Sun, as they truly do crawl along, never attempting to do anything dynamic outside of the spiritually rotting core they initially set up. However, this assists in maintaining cohesion amidst the pieces, a sort of mildly haunted thematic glue that will enrapture some, and drive others absolutely nuts in its seeming inability to evolve. Indeed, these 5 tracks are very, very similar, as is the burdensome crooning from Pat, rising above the conjured fog as a lone, regretful figure. Lyrically, this is about as emo as one can find, dealing with failed relationships and so forth. It’s dealt with in a more mature context than your average screamo band, though, and is emo in the right way, if you will, more like My Dying Bride or Katatonia than cringingly whiny metalcore. These two elements, supported by an extremely restrained (but undeniably effective) rhythm section, shift only slightly across the incredibly lengthy compositions, and it can be very involving and hypnotic, or brutally samey, depending on your natural perceptions. As usual, I reside somewhere in the middle of this equation, sympathizing with both viewpoints rather equally. What 40 Watt Sun are capable of is very good, terrific even, but as The Inside Room grows longer in the tooth, I find myself more and more at odds with it.

And that’s the kicker. Only a very particular mindset will be hypnotized by material as deliberate and sluggish as this, and the rest will be bored silly. In such an admitted specialization, it’s admirable that 40 Watt stick to their guns and attempt to reinforce this chosen oozing sound as much as possible, but to reinstate an inaugurating point, variety could have opened this thing up by miles. I feel and enjoy what the group is trying to do, and they do it quite well, but I simply do not have the patience or willingness to listen to what amounts to the exact same song, with minor pattern changes, for 47 minutes. I like what they’re doing, but they really need to do something else to compliment or punctuate it, as droning emotional sadness only carries weight for so long when it endlessly marches at the same pace, and by the end my viewpoint has shifted from contemplative awe to grudging impatience.

I know a good amount of you, however, will find an opposing perspective to my own, as The Inside Room has received a staggering number of positive reviews, so take my criticism as both a bolstering and a warning, depending on who you are. If you have a high tolerance for bloated doom and drone, and the natural beauty of melancholy touches your blue, broken soul like a kiss, then by all means, plumb these depths, and I truly hope you find them fulfilling. But if you naturally reside on the more extreme side of the metallic lexicon, and your doom metal tendencies lean toward the crushing, approach this one with caution, if at all. The Inside Room has a very poignant natural beauty to it, and indeed is quite special in its own haunted way, but alas it just doesn’t fully enrapture me, unfortunately due to the same innate repetition that has ingratiated them into so many other darkened minds.

Despite how much these perceived flaws really destroyed my initial love, however, I’d recommend anyone with a bit of feeling in their hearts to at least give the band a shot, as I feel they have a lot to offer select forms of consciousness. I want to like this much more than I do, to be sure, and enjoy it much more in 1 or 2 song chunks, when the rare mood strikes, than the entirety of the album. The Inside Room could have been amazing, but at length it’s just too heavily crushed under the weight of continuous familiarity as it drones onward towards its conclusion. The ambience and atmosphere are beautiful, surely enough for many people to eat it up, and that first bite sure is tasty, but when the realization sinks in that this one flavor is all the meal consists of, even the best food gets a little bland.

-Left Hand of Dog
http://reaperdivision.blogspot.com/

... was something I have never seen.

Yep, that describes my feelings for this album pretty good. Although I listen a lot to doom metal and thought I would know the most touching bands this genre has to offer, 40 Watt Sun hit me frontally without a warning (no pun intended). They caught me and refuse to let me go.

I never even heard of Warning, the previous band of Pat Walker, so I can judge fair and without comparision about that album. Just wanted to say that before we start with the important part of that review.

So. At first, I love distorted, drony riffing. 40 Watt Sun use it very excessive, but never at center stage. It becomes more or less a background noise, leaving most of the space for Pat Walker. But if you give the guitar playing a closer listen, you'll find that there are a lot of melodies hidden inside the seemingly monotone riffs. Melodies that wind themselves through the whole album. It's like searching for gold in a pile of dirt.

The drumming is very, very subtle. Like the guitars, the drums never get too prominent. The difference here is that there are no fine melodies or something like that woven into it, it's really just background, like the bass that you only can hear if you really, really want to. For me, that's no problem - don't get me wrong, I enjoy good, loud and heavy drumming, but that's no must-have. The main thing is that the volume and the rhythm fit the band, and for 40 Watt Sun, it's the only good way could go.

However, the real star, the pulsing heart of The Inside Room and the whole concept of 40 Watt Sun are Pat Walker's nasal, but surprisingly clear vocals. He manages to convey the whole meaning of the song, not just through the lyrics, but merely through his voice which is highly emotive and full of despair and longing, although it always lets a glimmer of light and hope shimmer through. The lyrics have the same themes like most of the other bands in the Doom Metal genre, but they are refreshingly unpretentious in their own way. The only bad thing is that I had a lot to puzzle ere I had the lyrics together, and yes, that's not that good, at least in my opinion. But still, they're a whole lot clearer than those of most genre collegues.

Overall, The Inside Room is one of the best doom metal albums I ever heard, and it's one of the best releases of 2011, too, imo. The songs fill a space somewhere inside of me that was empty for a long, long time. When I listen to Restless, I share all the feelings Pat Walker might have had while creating it. That's something not many bands can do in this intensity. So, I give the whole thing a rating of 100% and recommend it to everyone who likes doom metal combined with clear vocals instead of growls.

This record can be summed up pretty simply: An english Eddie Vedder (or Scott Stapp, if you want to be a real dick) whinging over Jesu-but-way-more-boring "riffs"/chord progressions.

Well, that's pretty much it. If you want to hear Warning but with janglier guitars, then you've found the right place- you're also a retard, but you'll be a happy one. Aside from the similarities to Warning and the terrible, ever-present vocalist, there's two main problems here; for one, the guitars have one and only one interesting part in the entire album (that nice lead guitar bit in Carry Me Home) and otherwise play very, very boring chord progressions that go nowhere, and second, the thing plugs away at one emotion the whole time with no variant.

I can dig where the band (or at the least the vocalist) are coming from- regret tinged with longing nostalgia - I guess the two are pretty interrelated, really- is something that's struck most of us from time to time. Regardless, it's not a fun/good/entertaining/interesting time having an album full of it and nothing else- if I really want it I'll put on some better music and stalk my ex's facebook for a few minutes. As far as emotions go it's a step above apathy, and a step below melancholy at best- just not very interesting to talk about. Yeats once said something along the lines of passive suffering never creating interesting art- dude is onto something. 50 odd minutes of whining about bitches- yeah, we've all been there, but it's not an interesting scene.

Doesn't help that said whining is backed by some really, astoundingly boring music. With the exception of the drummer- dude isn't hugely exciting, but he does put in a solid effort; you don't hear many tambourines on hi hats or rimshots in metal. Perhaps needless to say, but everything else here is excruciatingly boring. You'd sort of hope for at least the occaisonal different thing here; one riff that gets you banging your head, one riff that rises above the melancholy to give us some joy, or even something with a menacing, sinister undercurrent- longing going wrong and rotten. At the very least, surely the free, somewhat spacious arrangements would allow for some interesting bass work, some soaring guitar leads, even some lush soundscapes with a few synths? Some quiet, devestating ambient comedown where we realise how alone we are?

..Or not, instead, it's just a heap of slow, jangly barely-riff things that repeat ad nauseum for fifty minutes. All while a boring englishman vocalises those really boring internal monologues/conversations you have in your head when you think about your ex/some other regret you have. Really, really boring and if you enjoy this you should ask yourself some searching questions.

Edit: I had no idea these guys were actually a Warning spin off!! No wonder it's so shit. Stop making music dudes, you're rubbish

Let me say that going into this review that I was not even aware Patrick Walker and Christian Leitch had re-emerged after Warning split up, and I’m ashamed of myself for that. As much as I love Warning and hail Watching From a Distance as one of the greatest doom records of all time I was out of the loop on this. Thankfully, Psalter guys slapped me around like a bratty little girl and asked me to accompany a fellow Psaltine in reviewing this.

I don’t even know what to say after hearing The Inside Room album four times in a loop. I am, for once, rendered speechless. I will admit that upon hearing Warning’s Watching From a Distance album for the first time I was left nearly in tears after hearing the title track open that masterpiece of a record. In fact, that song still triggers that feeling in me to this day. Walker’s genuine break of emotion through his vocals has always been a spot of reverence for me and disdain for some others who find it too “weepy” as I once read somewhere. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but I simply don’t hear what they’re hearing I guess. What I find most compelling about 40 Watt Sun, much like with Warning, is the relative ease and comfort ability that seems to just permeate the band’s output in any given recording. In essence, there is no contrived pattern here; it’s honest and deeply aural music that can sweep away your entire train of thought for an hour at a time.

With the shortest track clocking in at a hair under seven minutes, The Inside Room is a special record in that there is no boredom that sets in during the long tracks, a virtual anomaly in any epic tracks these days. You are simply too busy being transported into the world they create by way of instrumentation. These tracks are small individual vacations downward into the dark, haunted sections of the soul, and while that may sound clichéd and overused it’s all I can say about the utter brilliance of this record. “Restless” seems to pick up the somber mantle right where Warning left off, and that’s smack in the center of a circle of destitution and loss made all the more relevant by the sincere feeling of melancholy in the music. This is no poor man’s doom metal; what we have here is a somber, yet majestic mulling over something not quite depressed but miles away from contentment. It is the quintessential album of dim and fleeting existence.

Within these seemingly reticent chords and vocal lines lay a realistic sentiment that seems as easily inspired as it is well-constructed. With doom metal you have those that play it to its lowest depths, hoping to come across as really tortured and beleaguered, and then there’s the bands that are more concerned with growling vocals and three-chord C-dropped meandering that misses the mark on more occasions than not. 40 Watt Sun is the middle road, hardly achieved by most and welcomed with open arms since it’s so rare an accomplishment of this magnitude makes it to such a plateau. In “Between Times” we have the closest thing to ‘uplifting’ as we get due in part to the incredibly designed chord structure that the trio affords us. When Walker’s vocals once more lift up and over the din we understand the band has ventured none-too-far from its perch, which makes the trip here so magical and appeasing.

True doom metal has a few faces left over from Birmingham in the late 60’s, many of which have been perverted, confused and even disgraced over the six decades since. 40 Watt Sun offers its very best attempt at bringing you the total sorrowful experience in a nearly 50-minute daydream that can either break your heart or lift you over the empty that is this short existence. If you allow it, you will be changed after hearing this record and I cast my vote for a very early Album of the Year for this humble writer.

Simply and completely amazing on every level; it is, for me, a flawless record.

(Originally written for www.metalpsalter.com)

Regarding "The Inside Room," my opinion has jumped each side of the fence countless times. 40 Watt Sun is the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes of England's Warning and features both Christian Leitch and Patrick Walker of the cult doom group; the instrumental similarities are clear, although there are a few ingredients chemically altering 40 Watt Sun from Warning, if that makes sense. The project concerns itself with the norms of doom metal, yet one will easily notice the dissonant droning relies on the crutch of atmosphere rather than sheer heaviness. 40 Watt Sun still manages to come away with a listenable result that could use a few kinks, because this seems really, really uneventful and boring at times, but I'm also drawn to the group's blessed ambience, which is incredibly captivating when the mood is right.

With that being said, "The Inside Room" is fairly uneventful. You pretty much get the fundamental basics of doom metal all rolled up into one package, with all the slow, bruising riffs clocking in at down-tempo signatures and unhurried percussion bobbing away in an apathetic theme of mechanical rhythms. The tempos seldom change between tracks, nor are the songs generally grabbing. The catch? Well, 40 Watt Sun forges an atmosphere that has a grey, bleak ambience to it, and Walker's resonating voice compliments the depressing surrounding excellently, and the overall hybrid appears to be a thing of beautiful sadness. Doctors everywhere in some alternate reality most likely prescribe "The Inside Room" to treat temporary depression instead of antidepressants.

However, I have a very convincing gut feeling that the lyrics and its associated components are the focal point of the album. It's a truth I'm really not fond of, but 40 Watt Sun at least reigns in an acceptable fashion in the eyes of this reviewer, because, unlike the status quo, they make "The Inside Room" work in the emotional spectrum to a degree often dropped. I'm not really sure if the overall demeanor is the highlight of the record or not, but it is certainly a core part of 40 Watt Sun's manifesto, and an essential part of the group's postulate. Not unlike most doom bands, each track (excluding "Between Times") plays over or just under ten minutes in length, so there's a lot of doom to delivered, and if you want it, you'll get it.

40 Watt Sun can be genuinely boring under the misfortunate side of the album's circumstances, but the uneventful characteristics occasionally illuminate with the care and power of Walker's perceptual vocals and lyrics. As I said, the album is highly emotional and geared toward atmospheric resolutions instead of shearing doom metal. The ending equation is a mixed bag, really; it's a perfectly listenable album which frequently tips into banal territory and backfiring emotive nonsense. Maybe you'll enjoy this if you like Warning, but let's just hope "The Inside Room" can spread to its target audience and emit its powers to the appropriate crowd.

This review was written for: www.Thrashpit.com

It seems that in the past few years I have been literally under a rock. Just recently I stumbled upon this album having no idea what it was, the second it began, it all hit me... 2006, Watching From A Distance and days upon days of listening to that emotionally heartbreaking but uplifting of a journey of pure sorrowful doom. It all came back to me, and so did Walker and Leitch. That long craving I've had for years has now been fulfilled.

We begin by becoming Restless, of course. This to me only feels like a continuation of Warning, the immense crushing blows on the drums and the drony melancholic guitar that puts you in a state of trance. Ten and a half minutes already and it's been hitting me harder than when "Watching From A Distance" came out, back then I wasn't prepared for it, and even now I'm not yet prepared but I keep on going.

After the state of restlessness I begin to Open My Eyes, with 40 Watt Sun Walkers vocals have genuinely gotten progressively better, which was something I didn't even know he could do. Especially the progression from Strength to Dream to Watching From A Distance was amazing, I didn't know it could get any better, and it did. The production on this album is also a bit more apparent and clear, and yet still shows the gritty darkness within as it did for previous releases. The guitar tone for me remains unchanged and so do the lyrical themes. The longing of what you once had, the regretful acceptance to move on. For Patrick Walker the road to remembrance, like most others is sometimes a hard path to walk upon. Though, we all have to face upon it and reminisce it at times.

Between Times, a partially uplifting song for me right off the bat. Walker can display a soft soothing but yet a fragile voice eager to take flight once again. The transitions and the new riffs are incredible on this album. Carry Me Home and This Alone are the last songs to finish this epic chapter. A true finale to one of the greatest doom albums I have ever heard. I have no negative comments, only positive and more. Patrick Walker has created a new era for sorrowful plunging doom. With bands such as The River, Revelation and 40 Watt Sun we have seen some of the many great faces of doom where down the line we can look back once more and take us back on that journey once again...The Inside Room.


-BlackNazareth

Pat Walker is one of those unfortunate musicians that will probably never escape their past. Walker will pretty much always be best known for the album Watching From a Distance, and he really should feel no shame about that, seeing as how WFaD is widely considered a classic of modern doom metal. Even though there is no shame being associated with that album, the shadow that a monolithic album like that can cast over one’s career is hardly enviable. Everything Walker does now will inevitably be compared to that album. With that little intro out of the way, let’s move on to the album at hand: The Inside Room by 40 Watt Sun.

So yeah, this album sounds like Watching From a Distance, but “different”. How is it different? Well, all the same elements are there: slow plodding guitar riffs with a faint hint of melody rising above the distortion, lyrics about love and loss, and of course Pat Walker’s amazingly emotional vocals over the top of everything. The difference lies in the feel and the atmosphere of the album. Whilst Watching From a Distance was bleak and pitch black, with not a glimmer of hope, The Inside Room offers some hope. Like standing on a thin grey ledge, with darkness and despair below, but with a light at the other end of the ledge (if that makes any sense). Looking at that description, it sounds pretty stupid, but that’s the best way I could phrase it.

Musically, this album is pretty damn simple. It plods along, hammering out funeral doom riffs that just happen to be sped up. The guitars are extremely fuzzy and distorted (for the most part, there’s an occasional acoustic break), so a lot of the riffs are a bit hard to discern, but not too hard. Occasionally you will hear melodies rise above it all, but on closer listens it becomes apparent that those melodies are pretty much omnipresent throughout the album. Drums and bass aren’t anything spectacular or standoutish, as they serve their purpose and never take center stage (The drums you don’t notice tend to be my favorite kind of drums). It’s fine that there’s nothing spectacular about the instruments on this album, as this is not an album that one showcases their technical ability on. Rather, the instruments serve more as a soundscape for Pat Walker’s vocals to soar over.

And that brings us to one of the main draws of this album: Walker’s vocals. Walker’s nasally voice (which is never annoying) is highly emotive, though not always completely clear. It can be hard to make out some of the lyrics at times, though you are never in the dark as to what the lyrics are trying to convey emotionally (as Walker’s voice expresses them perfectly). The band also does not release lyrics, so I’ve had to puzzle them out on my own. From what I can tell, they’re far more hopeful than Warning’s stuff.

So yeah, I think this album is absolutely amazing in every way shape and form, and can’t think of a single negative thing to say about it (it’s too short, maybe. But at 47 minutes, that’s more just me not wanting it to end than anything else). We shall see if this album stands the test of time to become a classic doom album that will be spoken of with reverence in the future. For what it counts, I think The Inside Room completely deserves that status.

Written for http://thenumberoftheblog.com/

The comparison of this band to Warning is going to be inevitable, especially considering the lineup. Yes, this sounds like a Warning album. The plodding riffs, the melancholic lyrics, and the unique vocals of Patrick Walker are all present and accounted for, but despite this it still manages to be a great album all of its own.

Admittedly at the beginning of the album, I was contemplating how much it sounded like Warning, despite enjoying it. Towards the middle, (On the track "Between Times"), it begins to pick up, becoming something absolutely beautiful and unique. From here on out is where the album really shines. The production is solid throughout, with the vocals being at just the right volume where they aren't drowned out by the other instruments. This gives the lyrics a clarity not normally found on many doom releases, helping along the atmosphere by alternating between despair and longing to a sort of triumphant romanticism and hope (evident on "Carry Me Home").

One of the distinguishing features of this album are the vocals, which are definitely a step up on Walkers part. He showcases a diversity that wasn't as prominent when he was with Warning, a diversity that adds to the melancholy, hope and longing this album is saturated with.

This album manages to overcome the expectations that many will undoubtedly hold. While it contains certain elements that Warning were known for, it ultimately becomes something completely unique while never straying too far from the roots of its members.

One of my only complaints is that it takes a while to really "take-off", only finding it's uniqueness towards the middle of the album and that the final track on the CD version ends far too abruptly.

This is an excellent album overall one of the first greats of the new year and a promising debut for 40 Watt Sun.