Review by Chris Van Etten for My Threnody - An Angel and the Eternal Silence (2002)

My Threnody is the brainchild and one-man band of  Jefferson Britto, formerly of Brazilian band Silent Cry. Based on what I’ve heard, Silent Cry (at least during Britto’s tenure) was Black-Doom, but I think My Threnody is much better categorized as Symphonic Metal. It’s mostly slow, but it’s also drenched in orchestral-style keyboards. While this is a little out of my usual territory (I haven’t delved in this genre much outside of Emperor’s “IX Equilibrium” LP), I can appreciate a good record as a good record, but “An Angel and the Eternal Silence” left me a bit dry. There’s sound effects or rainfall and bird chirps, as well as spoken word segments, with lots of  changes and dynamics. The problem is the parts aren’t very interesting. Too many of the more somber moments are just really bland. I also feel that a lot of the  guitar riffs could be improved with some slight tweaking, like switching from a major to a minor key, that sort of thing. The less heavy moments also take up way too much of the record, to where it sometimes feels like mellowness being offset by the occasional metal, as opposed to the other way around.  The music will start to get going, and then go into a piano break. I want to re-emphasize how prominent the keyboards are, they really soften things up a bit too much for me.There are only a few parts that are straight-up cringey    ( the opening lyrics to “ As the Autumn Comes...” are like something out of a 14 year old goth girl’s diary), for the most part this record is just forgettable. The only track I can see myself coming back to is “Tulip” ( the title alone should tell you something about this record), which has a pretty cool denouement that is, of course, very sappy  but also pretty catchy, with some good layered vocals. On the positive end of things, Britto does have a pretty cool “clean” voice, and when he sings like that (and the lyrics aren’t too shitty), those are probably the best parts of the album. His growl is just okay.  Considering how elaborate a lot of the compositions are - It definitely sounds like a concept record - it’s a shame the end result isn’t more memorable. To put it simply, I wish it was more DARK.