“Silent Stage” is the third album from the Finnish band Rapture. For those familiar with the band’s earlier albums knows what to expect here; melodic gothic/doom metal in the same vein as “Songs Of The Withering” and “Futile”. While some people may think that Rapture are “too fast” to be considered a doom metal band they have a very gloomy and dark athmosphere. Imagine “Brave Murder Day”-era Katatonia and you have a good idea of what they sound like.

There are two vocalists in Rapture; one clean vocalist and one growler. Both vocalists are very good and the contrast between the melancholic clean vocals and the deep death growls play a big part of the trademark Rapture sound. I must say that Henri Villberg’s growls sound awesome and deeper than ever before. One of the better growlers I’ve heard. The other main-ingredient in Rapture is the melodic guitar-playing. This is also where the “Brave Murder Day” influences shines through most profoundly. Add to this superb musicianship and strong song-writing and you have a kickass album. Yes, this album is a grower. At first it seemed to me like “Songs Of The Withering part 2” but after listening to it a couple of times I started liking it more and more. The band has managed to take the best bits of their first two albums and then brought in some fresh ideas while not straying too far away from their trademark gloomy sound. You could say that they have perfected their sound, or at least very close to doing so.

The production on this album is absolutely killer. It’s not often you can hear the bass on a metal album but this is such an exception. There are some really cool bass-lines here and it’s great that you can actually HEAR them for once. Just listen to the bass-line at around 1:10 and forward in “The Times We Bled”, for instance. Simple but brilliant. The drum-sound is very powerful and the drums are also the instrument that’s most up front in the mix. Don’t worry though, they are not drowning out the vocals or any of the other instruments. The guitar-sound is kickass too and the overall sound of the album is heavy and majestic. Occasionally there are also some piano playing in the background. There are two instrumentals on this album and even when no vocals are present the band manages to express emotions such as desperation, sadness and anger very well.

If I were to complain about anything it would be the lack of variation and that it sounds a lot like their earlier albums upon your first listen. But if you’re a fan of their previous albums you will like this too. If you’re unfamiliar with the band then I recommend you to check them out if you’re into bands like Katatonia & Draconian. Also, if you think doom metal in general is too slow then you should give them a chance since most of their songs are quite fast by doom metal standards.

With “Silent Stage” Rapture has matured and perfected their sound. They still sound similar to how they did on their previous albums but everything is slightly better now, and it’s these small but important improvements that makes this album as strong as it is. At first I was gonna give this album an 8 overall but I think it deserves the 9. It just keeps getting better with every spin. This album is definitely their best one yet and I have a hard time imagining what direction the band could take next without repeating themselves. If they can release a better album in the same vein as they have done so far then I would be surprised.

[This review was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]