Warning - Watching From A Distance review
| Band: | Warning |
| Album: | Watching From A Distance |
| Style: | Epic doom metal |
| Release date: | 2007 |
| A review by: | Lucas |
01. Watching From A Distance
02. Footprints
03. Bridges
04. Faces
05. Echoes
Next time a newbie to (Traditional) Doom Metal asks me what the genre is about, my answer shall be confined to one mere word: Warning. As his or her face will doubtlessly bear a puzzled look, should I really answer in such fashion, my patient person shall have to repeat and explain that answer. And I will gladly do so, as everyone that has but the slightest interest in Warning is my friend.
Yes, besides a signal of danger, Warning is also the name of a band. A British band. A highly emotional, animating band, seemingly the love of all the reviewers around the world, yet unknown to the majority of the listeners. A damn shame, that's what that is. If any album (Doom, or Metal in general) of the past ten years is massively underrated, it is "Watching From A Distance". But Warning themselves seem not to care, as they have been going since 1994 and keep going on, in the same pace as their music.
As a matter of fact, they have taken everything so easy that they were put into hibernation for a couple of years. The reason that I am mentioning this is because the vocalist, Patrick Walker, took a break from writing music and focused on acting, his other hobby. And it shows. Compare their first album "The Strength To Dream" to this one and be amazed at the immense, IMMENSE progress his voice has made. On the debut he was already good, but on "Watching From A Distance" he is glorious. Gloriously wailing. It might take some time getting used to his unique sound, but after a few spins you will sink deeper and deeper into the swamp of misery that is Warning.
Pat's vocals are accompanied by heavy guitar riffs, full of bass and sad melodies. Drenched in a very grey distortion, their slightly unusual sound is perfect for this type of music (and vocals). Together with the splashes of the drummer they are compact and tight, but at the same time wavering all over the place. Of course the pace is through-out the entire album slow and doleful, yet you will discover time flies by when listening to this album.
No more praise now, it is time the traditional Doom lovers discover this secret gem and give Warning the recognition they deserve. Before you will know it, the release of this album will be sold out again (perhaps it is already) and they will sink into oblivion once more. And that would be a great shame. Take my word for it, this is the best Traditional Doom Album of post 2000.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 9 |
 | Written on 27.07.2008 by If you're interested in extreme, often emotional and underground music, check out my reviews. I retired from reviewing, but I really used to be into that stuff. |
Comments page 3 / 3
Comments: 78
Visited by: 406 users
| Vonpire Posts: 471  |
Ponderer.. Oh yeah I remember about him. It's this? (Actual quotes) Written by Vonpire on 21.10.2010 at 14:10 Written by Vonpire on 21.10.2010 at 21:15 Written by Vonpire on 13.12.2010 at 13:26 Ok There's ponderer and then there's me... No need to say more. Lol. My wife laughed also with your comments, lovely cute little thing! Well this album still sucks anyway  I don't need you guys to like Draconian either. In fact I prefer whoever praises this album do dislike Draconian. Cause this is really really ridiculous music/lyrics/voice/attitude. It's my opinion, not intendeed to chance your opinions / taste at all. Enjoy warning, I'll be keeping distance from it anyway.Oh and I have listened / rated this album long ago, not now. I just wanted to show you all my true vision of this album (a supposed doom masterpiece  ), as I did.
---- Beware the Shadows of Dusk
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by Vonpire on 31.08.2011 at 16:57 So that would mean you prefer the people in Draconian to dislike their own band?
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Vonpire Posts: 471 |
Hahahaha  That was weak!  So Draconian members like this? Who cares? Do you think I care about what Draconian guys like? And even if they like, I had to praise that? NO, sorry, not with me. I even tried to listen this third time. I give up after that horrible nasal torment started...
---- Beware the Shadows of Dusk
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| vezzy Stallmanite Posts: 3493  |
Since when did Ponderer become a forum hacker? Damn.
---- Licensed under the GPLv3. Relinquish proprietary software for a greater GNU/America.
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| Vonpire Posts: 471 |
Hey joe glad to see you checked my last fm. And , incredibly you guessed it, even if it were in a sarcastic way. I listened this on my mp3 player, at dark in the bed, no preconcebed ideas as I was expecting something great and genious. Then it started and I just..WTF??? Lol Now about my english.. Well not my native language so... Ty for proof.
---- Beware the Shadows of Dusk
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| InnerSelf proofread free Posts: 2701  |
Damn it man XD I am going to take your side a little bit and say that I was really disappointed at the first listen afterr reading all the praise , but after a while I learned to embrace it. the vocals did not sound bad but deep and honest , the lyrics did not sound cheesy but overwhelmingly emotional and the music itself sounded so pure as Doom should be. you might like it too if you put some effort but I guess you are too arrogant to do so -_-
---- He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across the abyss is not bold enough to stare into it himself.
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| Vonpire Posts: 471 |
I tried, I really did! The music itself isn't bad, in fact it's perfectly audible and really depressive stuff. That's why I rated this with a 6 and not less... But his voice... Oh man! Can't stand it, really can't. And the lyrics, I can not help, I just laugh at it Maybe I am not depressive type who can really appreciate this.Either way I am not arrogant, I simply don't like! And as I said, I am not alone in this. Apparently you all talk about my pseudo-catfight in ARFTA but fail to see you guys do really worse than me. I clearly pictured it in words. And the cap fitted some people perfectly xD . And I am not gonna torture me and lost 1 more precious hour listening to this stuff again. Specially with all the amazing offering in the world of Metal (and music in general), where in my standard, this don't fit at all. Look how drool I am about one band in particular... Check my latest listens on last fm. (and it didn't count my listenings in car / mp3 player / ps3 ...) Graveworm, Gothminister, Arkona, Kamelot, Katatonia, Enslaved, The Prodigy, Korn, Edge of Sanity, Edenbridge, Elis, Marilyn Manson, Illnath ... See how limited I am to Draconian
---- Beware the Shadows of Dusk
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| InnerSelf proofread free Posts: 2701 |
May I suggest trying 40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room where Pat delivers a sensational vocal performance "which is not whiny by any means". If you like it, appreciating Warning would not be as hard
---- He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across the abyss is not bold enough to stare into it himself.
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| Vonpire Posts: 471 |
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| Being and Time Posts: 53 |
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| JD Account deleted |
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| WhyDoIDoThis Posts: 15  |
The best type of depression is the kind music inflicts. Especially because all you have to do is change the station to snap out of it. I just wish there chould be even 5 seconds of a tempo that doesn't recall the image of a 600 year old turtle walking across a meadow of fire and bones.
---- Woah!? I'm a female? No way! You're far too observant. Tone that down a bit.
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| Boxcar Willy REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Posts: 9216  |
I love it when the comments out do the actual review 
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| Boxcar Willy REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Posts: 9216 |
Written by Slayer666 on 30.08.2011 at 23:32 Thank you for the half hour of entertainment.
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| Guib Thrash Talker Posts: 3264  |
Haha the comments... are amazing. I love the album
---- - Headbanging with mostly clogged arteries to that stuff - Guib's List Of Essential Albums - Also Thrash Paradise Thrash Here
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| Metren Dreadrealm Posts: 1418  |
Well, I am certainly a newbie, when it comes to any type of doom, but this album seemed like a good place to start familiarizing myself with the genre. After reading through the comments here, what surprised me the most, was that I loved the vocals from the second they started. What a cool, unique voice. At the risk of coming across like an ignoramus, I am going to say that this type of doom seems to be a genre that (due to the lack of riffs as fast as found in thrash or some other genres) is easy to make, but also due to the same lack of pace and constantly changing motives is extremely difficult to pull off with truly great results. Slow music does tend to be more boring than fast music, to my ears at least. As such, it is pretty impressive that this album didn't bore me. I know, that isn't much of a compliment, but I am a newbie after all, I can't yet fully understand (and thus fully appreciate) the genre. To make a long story short: I liked it, I loved the vocals, the mood and even the lyrics. This was a good album to start with.
---- My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Best news in years. http://www.roadburn.com/2016/10/warning-return-shadows-play-classic-watching-distance-album-roadburn-2017/
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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