Warning "Watching From A Distance" Cassette

First of all I'm going to express that this is my favourite album. Ever. I remember the first time i listened to it was when a friend recommended it to me, it was 3 oclock in the morning and throwing it down with rain outside, me being me couldn't sleep and felt quite emotionally drained, in my fragile state of mind i layed in bed, closed my eyes and listened to this album. It came into my life at the right time. First we are presented with the song Watching From A Distance, a song about denial. A man who has to stand back and watch his life change whilst he can have no impact over this, shown in the lyrics ‘And watched from a distance but never able to do more than I ever would’. Patrick Walker's vocals and lyrics pass this emotion across really well, you can hear the pain in his voice which just makes it that much more crushing. From the beginning of this track we are straight away hit with a heavy, slow riff which despite its heaviness is still somewhat melodic, the long introduction builds up the feel of this album, whilst also making it apparent that it is in fact going to be doom metal. Even from this one track off of the album we can tell the songwriter is dealing with a lot of emotions and is expressing these in his music. As the previous track mellows out we are introduced to the second track, Footprints. Unlike the previous song the lyrics here touch on the topic of anger. He seems to have come to come to terms with his emotions and is now just angry and in despair. Lyrics such as ‘So capture me while I am weakest’ shows he is fed up, he's angry about how he is feeling. Personally I feel like when I'm listening to this album I am listening to his story, it's almost like a poem. The remaining 3 tracks on this album also touch on topics of acceptance and more upset.
However the lyrics aren't the only thing that make this album so depressing, the instruments used also add to the atmosphere, it's almost as if every chord, every symbol crashes... they're there for a reason, they grasp you and they grasp your emotions. Everything about this album seems sincere and believable, even when seeing clips online you can see Pat tearing up, you can see a silent room filled by the echoes of his voice and you can see the despair in the audience's eyes as they connect to the music. As someone who listens to death metal, black metal etc i'm quite familiar with heavy music, yet this album feels heavy in another way, its soul crushing and its raw emotion.
I feel like the only way to listen to this album is in a dark room, with headphones in, focusing on the lyrics. If you want to listen to some simple yet emotional music then this is the way to go, you may not understand it at first or may not relate to it but you'll find yourself coming back to it, it's so grabbing and enticing. Personally I would recommend this album to anyone who wants to drift into an easy listening album, something that will touch your emotions. Overall i cannot stress how flawless i find this album, i cannot pick any faults with it at all, i've easily listened to it at least 40 times, and it's still just as good as the first time i heard it.

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