Now this is interesting. A sort of
downtempo outer sound, almost a doom record but not quite. I wasn't
previously familiar with Shape Of Despair, but if Alone In The
Mist is any indication of what
they are capable of then color me impressed. This is an album that
doesn't follow conventional rules, it doesn't care if you think it
feels meandering and it certainly isn't trying to conform to any
genres. Rather Shape Of Despair do exactly what they want on Alone
In The Mist and it makes for an
incredibly intense personal experience of the sort that few can truly
wrap their heads around.
This is an album
that is largely driven by a washed out keyboard and gentle drums.
Every now and then extremely guttural growls, guitars and a few other
sonic elements make their way in, but that is hardly the focus.
Instead you encouraged to embrace the atmospheres that are gently
crafted here, the way that you find yourself sifting through
seemingly endless soundscapes and unveiling strange new earths.
Though Shape Of Despair certainly conform to conventional Western
harmony at times it feels like things might fall apart. They rarely
go for tension, but rather the sheer ebb and flow of the music makes
for a sound that is almost impossible to ever wrap your head around.
Yes there are clear
musical roots to what Shape Of Despair are doing, Finnish doom metal
seems to have had an especially big influence, as have bands like
Summoning or even post black metal weirdness like Austere. However
unlike some of their forefathers nothing feels especially weird about
Shape Of Despair, although they certainly come off as very dark.
Rather they are bitter, but their music is a conduit for this. It
feels natural as anything else and leaves you in love and strangely
lost – looking for more solace from these understated artists.
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