Lista de los grupos Pagan Black Desekratewhore Shadows of the Past

Everything about Desekratewhore's sophomore full length album, Shadows of the Past screams "DIY". From the band logo, down to the album artwork and even the home-xeroxed packaging reeks of the do-it-yourself attitude, to the extent that one would almost expect hardcore punk to come out of the speakers when the play button is pressed. Don't get me wrong, I am all for DIY albums, as long as the music that the band presents on the CD is of good quality. But what we have here on Shadows of the Past is some of the rawest and most primitive thrash/heavy metal that I have ever heard.

The album begins with Fuck Philosophy, and the rawness in the production quality instantly reinforces the DIY ethic that the band has initially impressed upon the listeners, yet this makes the album begin to sound more like a demo rather than a full length effort. Later songs like As the Angels Burn even include sounds of the band setting up and stray notes before the start of the track. Drummer F takes the spotlight with the high mix of the drums and his blast beats, along with the trem-picked riffs of E. All is fine until the guitar solo comes into the mix, sounding like it came in a beat too late, and the guitar tone cuts through the rest of the instruments. Towards the end of the solo it also begins to get messy, sounding almost as if guitarist E were trying to keep up with the pace of the rest of the band. The bends also sound out of tune, and this certainly spoils the moment as well. After the solo, it also started to sound as if each member of the band were doing their own thing without regards to the rest of the band members, with drummer F blasting his way through. Fortunately the song ends on a nice note with bassist J ending the song with a loop of the main riff of the track.

Souls of the Insane, like Fuck Philosophy, begins promisingly with a heavy riff, until once again the lead guitar comes in and spoils everything, sounding messy as ever and almost as if the main aim were to squeeze as many notes in the allotted space. All goes well once again until the middle of the track, where there is a sudden drop in tempo, and mind you, this sounded more like the band couldn't keep up with the energy rather than an intentional slow down on the band's part. Similar problems continue to plague the album throughout, and this definitely spoils the album as a whole though the structures of most of the tracks would have managed to stand their ground if not for the messy solos and (at times) the drumming. Songs like Illusions in the Mist (which happens to be one of the better tracks on the album) actually have the potential to be pretty good songs if not for these technical issues. Even with the slowed down tempo in the track, there are still times when the band lack the coherence, and have to spoil the song with the trebly and pointless guitar solo towards the middle of the track, which got extremely irritating halfway through.

Perhaps the best track on the album is the instrumental track Shadows of the Past, which takes a slow down from the chaos (literally) that the band has already given to the listeners on the first three tracks and it displays the capability of the band to actually write decent tracks. For once, the incoherence of the drums and the messy lead guitars are kept to a minimum and the track can actually get pretty enjoyable after awhile. The guitar solo on the album is also surprisingly good and melodious, and if only the whole of the album were filled with solos of this type, it would have definitely helped make the album an overall better one. Also, it seems as if the album took the turn for the better after this track, with fewer screw ups than before, making the second half of the album the more bearable part though it suffers from being slightly too repetitive afterwards. The influences that the band has taken also becomes clearer, with riffs on tracks like The Cave Part 2: Forever Descending Slumber sounding like it could come off a black metal record. There is even a classical moment in the middle of the track, bringing in some fresh sounds in the song, showing that the band actually has good ideas, only that they are poorly executed. Vocalist/guitarist E also sounds tired out towards the end of the album, with his vocals becoming less powerful with each passing moment.

While I personally did not like this album, this could sit very well with fans of primitive and raw metal in its purest form. The second half of the album has showed the latent talent that the band has, and the band could have the potential to progress further if they focus less on the speed, and instead devote their energy into writing slower and more melodic music.