Origin : Finland
Genre : Funeral Doom Metal
Release : 2000
Album Info / Review
**Shape Of Despair – *Shades of…***
*Album Review*
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### 1. Soundscape
From the opening riff to the final fade‑out, the album strives to sit somewhere between the percussive brutality of a death‑metal titanic swarm and the atmospheric swells of a doom‑inspired desert thunderstorm. The guitars sit in a mid‑range that feels intentionally built‑up; demonic leads peak at 12‑20 kHz, while the low-end thumps roll out of the 80–120 Hz cluster. The drums are a perfect match for the guitars—a blend of live double‑bass with a subtle reverb that creates a “wall‑of‑sound” rather than a “snare‑buzz” type echo.
### 2. Atmosphere
The emotional content of *Shades of…* is largely carried by drones and layered synths that appear framing each riff like a weather report of a storm cloud about to hit the horizon. Dark, reedy synthesizers occasionally drop in during the breakdowns, giving that ominous, almost nighttime feel to the music. In the quieter tracks, you can hear ambient samples of distant wind and hollow footfalls, creating a sensation of walking through abandoned ruins. The high‑end occupation of the vocal track is used with a fury; the guttural growls are layered with short flash effects, producing an almost “echo‑border” vibe that supports the album’s bleak themes.
### 3. Riffs & Melody
The riffing appears to be an amalgamation of brutality and groove. The main riff on the opening track resembles a “classic thrash” style—low melodic progressions enhanced with a 4‑note pattern repeated in short bursts. This sounds reminiscent of the early “Killswitch Engage” but with a rougher, heavier approach. Many sections are followed by “back‑to‑back” scalar run–learning mode that turns each verse into a succession of melodic runs. Those runs are performed with all the ornaments typical of metal such as “inverted trills”, which make each recurring riff different from the previous. The latter part of the track sees the guitars shift to “pentatonic scale” mode, and the rhythm abruptly changes to a faster, more aggressive pace ignoring the 8th notes of the pre‑rhythm pattern.
### 4. Production & Mixing
The mix uses a “tribal” organising background that blends the drums and guitars into a cohesive “thrash” soundtrack. The vocal conditions are mainly “dense” with the spectral warmer tone. Bass frequencies can be identified clearly in the mix, heavily emphasised, which gives listeners a feel of “substance” and drives the main rhythm of each track. The reverb on the underlayer is “medium‑to‑heavy” but not too pronounced, allowing each channel to be distinct yet unified in the final mix and the overall soundscape.
### 5. Overall Impression
*Shades of…* delivers a dense, fearful energy that feels intense, purposeful, and ready to take you through a storm‑laden landscape. Even though it may not feel completely original, because the conventions of metal are well‑known in this genre, it is still “coin-tail” well‑legit and does not risk monotony. All the sessions are well‑performed and given a strong brightness that feels very consistent most of the time. The album feels like a compelling, unapologetic bass‑driven Christian concept matching the emotions if just a single bitrate is still sync’d very enough.
The best track on this Release is possibly “The Wake of the Wonder”; this piece contains many combines between drop‑gun Modal with a sense of age. The second track “Blood Bunny” provides a good and riffful opening to sing as a separate track. The whole album is, seriously, the “light of death” type vibes as an album featuring many but subtle techniques that can make a competent album stand out.
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