Warning (GBR) - Watching From a Distance (2006) Reviews

Holy shit this is a beautifully bleak collection of music!

How would I describe this album?... It's on the level of movies like "Hamburger Hill", "Grave of the Fireflies", and "Requiem for a Dream"  where you know that you have witnessed a masterpiece, but instead of coming away with "I can't wait to see that again", you come away with "I never want to see that again." The emotional toll is just too heavy. 

The album Title "Watching From a Distance" alludes to the narrator deeply desiring a relationship with someone he can not obtain. It's a break up album about someone that you can still see, smell, and hear, but will never again taste or feel. There is an illusion of hope that the relationship could be rebuilt-but you know it's a mirage. Unrepairable damage has been done, and maybe it was your fault.

Now, this type of longing is nothing novel to the realm of doom metal, it's well-trodden subject matter. The difference here is that there is no wall of distorted guitars and muddy production to hide behind. There are no extravagant figures of speech in the lyrics that cheapen or soften the subject. There is no deep indecipherable growl that allows you to evade paying attention. No, this is very thick production, but it's also crystal clear, as are the vocals. It's as emotionally raw as it gets. You are going to hear this man's pain, and you are going to feel it.

"I want to be master of my own emotions with a fire that fills me

But I don't understand myself and I don't know

I don't know what my heart is anymore"


I have heard a masterpiece, and  I don't ever want to hear it again. It's too perfect and it's too real.

Warning's masterpiece is not only my favourite Doom album, but one of my absolute favourite albums of any kind. Patrick Walker eschews all of the macho posturing that is so often part of Metal and offers us a recording that has come straight from the heart. The melancholy and longing are almost palpable and unremitting - there are no upbeat tempo changes to relieve the emotional pain. For me, this album is the truest expression of the Doom aesthetic and is a worthy addition to any real doom fans collection.