Shroud Of Despondency/Pine/2012 CD Review

  Shroud Of Despondency are a band from Wisconsin that has had their previous recordings as well as being interviewed by this zine that plays a very atmospheric and progressive form of black metal and this is a review of their self released 2012 album "Pine".

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with some blast beats being thrown in at times, while the synths when they are utilized bring a very dark and atmospheric/ambient and progressive sounding with some folk instruments being thrown into the music at times, as for the bass playing it has a very dark tone with riffs that follow the riffing that is coming out of the guitars and at times they have a very powerful sound that has a doom metal feeling to them.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast black metal riffs that use a good amount of melody and influences from doom, death metal and progressive rock, while the lead guitars when they are utilized are all progressive metal guitar solos and leads, as for the acoustic guitars when they are utilized they use finger picking and full chords to bring a 70's style progressive rock feeling to the music.

Vocals are mostly high pitched black metal screams with some deep death metal growls and spoken word parts being thrown in at times as well as some clean singing being used on the last song, while the lyrics cover human suffering, discomfort, alienation, and the overcoming of the human condition, as for the production it has a very dark, raw and primitive sound to it.

In my opinion this is another great sounding album from Shroud of Despondency and if you are a fan of this band, you will enjoy this recording as well. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Overshadow" "The Great Sadness Descends" "Light Words, Dark Graves" and "Nameless End". RECOMMENDED BUY.

shroudofdespondency.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/shroudofdesondency