Wake – Thought Form Descent (Review)

Wake are a Canadian extreme metal band and this is their fifth album.

The development between Wake’s 2018 album Misery Rites and 2020’s Devouring Ruin was impressive. Both are great records, but Devouring Ruin saw the band take big steps forward, moving their filthy grindcore into expansive blackened extreme metal waters. So what does Thought Form Descent bring us?

More evolution. Thought Form Descent continues where Devouring Ruin left off, but then pushes further once again. The band’s vicious blackened deathgrind was already riven with melodic elements, but now these have been taken further and also augmented by more progressive and post-metal elements. The end result is a record that is brutal and harsh on one hand, but beautiful and introspective on the other. For a rough guide to the 2022 version of Wake, think of a mix of parts from bands such as Hath, Opeth, Deafheaven, and Wiegedood, and then inject it into the band’s Devouring Ruin sound.

This is an album of atmosphere and texture. Whereas Devouring Ruin certainly showcased these aspects of the Wake sound well, Thought Form Descent centralises them into the core of the band’s music. Wake are still wonderfully adept at producing face-ripping brutality, but here they also fully embrace the multifaceted tapestries that progressive and post-metal offer them, incorporating them naturally into their extreme metal sound.

These songs are punishing in their intensity, both from an extreme metal perspective and from an immersive atmospheric one. The music is visceral and raw, but also highly emotive and richly adorned with melody and mood. Progressive structuring and post-metal resplendence are now a fully embedded part of what makes Wake tick, and these songs make the most of these new additions to the band’s extensive repertoire.

Less the giant leap forward that Devouring Ruin was, more a confident and assured next step, Thought Form Descent is a remarkable and highly enjoyable album. If atmospheric and immersive black/death metal is your thing, then you must check this out.

Essential listening for fans of modern heavy extreme music.