Try differential calculus with Roman numerals and you will form a black hole, however throw them onto an album cover and it gets cvlt statvs! Joking aside, My Silent Wake has been a constant in my musical language for almost two decades and this compilation attempts the very difficult feat of threading together a diverse musical landscape where the keystone pieces are in excess of 15 minutes. The artistry that this band puts forward has been an inspiration to me, which hasn’t translated into worldly success as I hear something just as brooding and musically engaging as fellow Brits Paradise Lost.
For the uninitiated, My Silent Wake is a gothic doom/death metal institute that at times will present like a meeting of melancholic medieval minstrels at their most acoustic. It was founded by Ian Arkley (Seventh Angel, Ashen Mortality) from the ashes of his previous project Ashen Mortality. MSW pedals an introspective, nigh on contemplative, approach to the sullen and heavy genre with an honest pen to the lyrics of loss, hope, and suffering. The band released one of my top 10 albums from 2024 in “Lost in Memories, Lost in Grief.” In 2025 they announced that MSW will no longer be a live band but will be releasing a compilation “MMV-MMXXV” with a couple of newly recorded songs to celebrate 20 years of MSW.
“MMV-MMXXV” runs from the latest and meanders back to the very start, like watching a large sprawling oak shrink to a sapling. There are representatives from all the major releases, but due to some of their greatest hits being quite long, fitting all of the best onto two CDs would be impossible. Even if it isn’t a greatest hits, I think it does a great job of chronicling their diverse soundscapes while hitting some of the most important songs along the way.
Disc One starts with the three new songs. The first is a re-recording of “Hunting Season,” a song from their debut album. The new version features more atmosphere with deeper dynamics in the production and plays into the strengths of the current band with piano playing off the guitar leads and Simon’s clean vocals to contrast Ian’s growls. It is a mesmerizing 16-minute song that hits the best features of MSW with ethereal melodies and rich heavy textures that feel like a weighted blanket for the soul. “A Bleak Fateful Night” is a short, quieter gothic track focusing on clean vocals within ethereal synth textures setting a somber nocturnal atmosphere that then leads into the even shorter “With Equanimity” that sounds like a troubadour warming up for an epic ballad, which is apropos as the retrospective part of the program follows.
The rest of Disc One runs from albums “Lost In Memories, Lost In Grief” through “Damnatio Memoriae.” The two from the recent album are quintessential MSW with the new lineup showcasing brilliant use of organ. The next song “Berceuse” starts in a subdued mood and builds over the course of the song providing an emotional respite from heaviness before leading into the heart of “There Was Death.” The two central tracks of that release show a darker doom/death feel to their sound with some somber interludes, but not without some emotive melodies. “Volta” is an ambient acoustic track from “Invitation to Imperfection” and fits rather well as a calm before the blisteringly bitter anger in “Of Fury.” This first act shows MSW at their peak in their myriad of styles that mesh together into a coherent playlist.
Disc Two starts a little clunky with an ambient piece from “Eye of the Needle” that goes nowhere fast followed by a mellow instrumental from the Pylon/MSW split “Empyrean Rose” setting a rather chill atmosphere before launching into the dynamic hopeful epic “Third Season.” At this point, the songs turn to classic heavy death/doom songs like “Et Lux Perpetua” and “Bleak Endless Winter” and bluesy Sabbath roots, particularly in their live version of “Lost” and episodes within the songs from their debut album, “Shadows of Sorrow” and “Your Cold Embrace.”
But with a lot of ground to cover, there are some great songs that did not make it. For example, “Anatomy of Melancholy,” one of my favorite albums of all time, doesn’t have a single song from the Last Volume of the album where “Storm” (or the heavier version “Sturm”) is essential to the MSW journey. That said, I can’t complain about the selections. For any newbie getting acquainted with one of the most underrated gothic death/doom bands in the world, it gives the essentials that show breadth and depth. I would approach If you are inclined, this is a great collection at a great price on Bandcamp.
Rating: 8.5/10
Written by Sean Bailey
Tracklist
Disc One
1 – Hunting Season MMXXV
2 – A Bleak Fateful Night
3 – With Equanimity
4 – Lavender Garden
5 – The Liar and The Fool
6 – Berceuse
7 – Killing Flaw
8 – Ghosts of Parlous Lives
9 – Volta
10 – Of Fury
Disc Two
1 – Solitudo
2 – Tower Walk
3 – Third Season
4 – Strange Attractors
5 – Light and Shadows
6 – Et Lux Perpetua
7 – Bleak Endless Winter
8 – Wilderness of Thorns
9 – Lost (Live)
10 – Into Silence
11 – Shadow of Sorrow
12 – Your Cold Embrace
Current My Silent Wake lineup is:
Ian Arkley – guitars and death vocals
Simon Bibby – organ and clean vocals
Addam Westlake – bass
Gareth Arlett – drums
Release Date: August 22, 2025
Record Label: Ardua Music
Discography:
2006: Shadow Of Sorrow
2007: The Anatomy of Melancholy
2008: Garland of Tears
2010: IV: Et Lux Perpetua
2013: Silver Under Midnight [review]
2013: Preservation Restoration Reconstruction
2014: Eye of the Needle [review]
2015: Damnatio Memoriae
2017: Invitation to Imperfection
2018: There Was Death [review]
2020: Damnum per Saeculorum
2024: Lost in Memories, Lost in Grief[review]
2025: MMV – MMXXV (Compilation)
Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | YouTube | Bandcamp
Lyric Video for Hunting Season MMXXV
Lyric Video for A Bleak Fateful Night