Oh Amouage. What have you done? First, there was Interlude Man. Then, there was Interlude Black Iris. Then, if those weren't enough, there was Interlude Man 53. And then there was what might be called, Interlude Sith Lord, er, Silver Oud.
Yes, this is very much like a trip to the dark side of the force. Imagine Darth Vadar, with his long, drawn out synthesized-sounding breaths cut short by the choke-force of a coughing fit. Yes, it's a tad bit smokey and goes on pretty intense, kind of like Anakin screaming at Obi Wan while crawling out of the lava. Ok, ok... enough Star Wars imagery.
If you haven't already seen Sebastian's review on his YouTube channel Looking, Smelling, er, wait. He literally just changed the name of the channel while I was typing this. The Perfume Guy is its new name. Well, how about that for a news flash? Anyway, if you've seen his review, I concur with a good majority of what he said: this is like sucking a good deal of the sweetness and green notes out of Interlude Man and leaving you with something a bit more... I don't know, daring? Certainly it's that.
Now, it does get some sweetness after a while, but it really kind of depends, like many scents of this type, where you're smelling it from. This is something that may smell nicely wafting in the air around you like typical (real) Oud-based fragrances do. Put your nose right up to it and you'll most likely get something different. Except here, it's pretty intense and, well, addictive. Not to mention, mysterious.
Mysterious is part of the marketing of this scent, but to my nose, and one other reviewer's on another website, a big portion of that mystery may be coming from an ingredient missing on the official notes. I say that because, like the other reviewer, I'm getting something that's like a dark, smoldering berry note in here. Whether it's raspberry or something else, I cannot tell. But it's there, floating in and out amongst the dark patchouli and other notes and it's very addictive. It's not gourmand by any means, but it's like how patchouli can have a dark chocolate vibe, then this dark, sweet note of raspberry or something, along with the smoke... it's, well, mysterious! I'm certain other perceptions will vary, nevertheless.
Longevity is top notch. Sillage is good, but hard for me to comment on as I haven't moved around much today. Over the course of its development, the vanilla comes into play but it's never really in the foreground. At first, initial spray, you get the sense that you might want to wait about 10 minutes or so before going anywhere as it's a bit challenging, but after a while it's got that Interlude's darker, broodier brother thing going on with a hint of sweetness to it.
I'll admit, at first, I thought... Mmmm, I don't know if I like this as much as Interlude, but after a second wearing, it's really growing on me and just goes into a different direction. It very well could be the scent for those who dislike the oregano note in Interlude. Or those who don't mind playing with the dark side of the force. Big thumbs up!