“This is departure, this is goodbye, the last chapter is now written, no truth here and no lies. Into chaos we fly.” (WHISPERS IN THE SHADOW - The Departure)
2008, 2010, 2012, 2014. Whispers in the Shadow stay true to their own tradition and release with “BEYOND THE CYCLES OF TIME” the long-awaited last part of their epic four-album-cycle. The album has already made history in the WITS universe even before the recording began. The band managed to mobilize their faithful fan base so that the crowdfunding-campaign for the album on pledgemusic.com reached 100% in just five days. The five Austrians have been an inherent part of the gothic scene since 1996 and are significantly involved in the conservation of the classic goth-rock. The characteristic WITS-sound has internationally established long ago and features flaring, partially somber guitars, which meet booming bass, fulminant drums and psychedelic keyboard. From the wall of sound arise together with the unmistakable voice of band-founder Ashley Dayour those picturesque images in the mind of the listeners, who finally understand the meaning of the lyrics. Thematically, Whispers in the Shadow took their path into the depths of occultism with their album INTO THE ARMS CHAOS, released in 2008, and started a four-album-cycle, which deals with the four alchemic stages of the transformation. Since then they took the listeners in ever new worlds of sound every two years, starting with epic songs (INTO THE ARMS OF CHAOS – 2008), to harder rock-sound (THE ETERNAL ARCANE - 2010) and tribal noise-rock (THE RITES OF PASSAGE - 2012) to the disinfected dark wave (BEYOND THE CYCLES OF TIME - 2014). The artwork of every record, each one linked to the previous album, is another linking element aside from mystic voice samples and the lyrics which are inspired by occult greats like Austin Osman Spare, Kenneth Grant and Aleister Crowley as well as authors like Philip K. Dick and H.P. Lovecraft. The whole collection of the diversified artworks, which have been designed by SPINE for WITS in the last six years, are published as an own Whispers-tarot deck. With BEYOND THE CYCLES OF TIME Whispers in the Shadow have now reached the end of their journey, the circle closes. The increasing warmth and confidence of the musical cycle are destroyed by heavy cold and thus unusual clarity manifests. Frosty synth-sounds meet monotonous, static drumbeats, the groundbreaking sounds are fueled by cold ambient and post-punk. Solely Ashley Dayour’s voice gives some warmth and guides the listener through those decayed towns and lonely places, which the music compulsorily creates in the mind and are rediscovered in the elaborately designed booklet. And so Whispers in the Shadow succeed once more to astound the listeners and to cope with the high expectations at the same time. With unforeseen self-confidence and totally blunt they catapult themselves back into the chaos, as the cycle ends with the very sample with which everything began back in 2008: “No order only chaos!” Liberated they return from their journey thus, back to the beginning, because the beginning is the end is the beginning. There is no happy ending.
CD Jewel Tray including 16 pages Booklet
Date of release: 04.2014
