Liste des groupes Black Metal Shroud Of Despondency Dark Meditations in Monastic Seclusion

Shroud of Despondency releases their second full length album this year independently, 6 years after their previous release, a split album in 2005. While most bands that have taken such a long break tend to cause disappointment in their fanbase, it was interesting to see what Shroud of Despondency brings with this new release.

The album opens with an acoustic guitar driven track, Seeing One Last Ray of Light, with the lead guitar line reminiscent of Opeth's acoustic Damnation album, while setting up a dark or depressive mood for the album, provides the listener with a ray of hope towards the end of the track, with a slightly more uplifting tune, but only for a fleeting moment as the rest of the album will prove later. While nothing seemingly special about the music, upon closer inspection and observation, different influences can be heard in the background, such as the folk-ish sounding tune that plays at the background of the track as the vocals of Michael come in. This, however, is just the opening track. So do not be deceived into thinking that this is going to be another acoustic folk/black metal album as the main onslaught of the album begins as the introductory track ends.

Without sparing a moment, the listener is thrown into a myriad of double bass drums, tremolo picked riffs and growls. The slight folk influences in Shroud of Despondency's music especially shows in the few guitar solos on the album, on songs such as on Homo Homini Lupus. Michael's vocals sound like a fusion of growls and tortured screams, and at times also include shouting vocals such as on Sullen Murmur Oppressive Stillness, bringing out the sense of desolation and desperation of the songs, and the brilliant addition of background vocals also provide a sense of anxiety in the music, leaving the listener constantly sitting on the edge, half-anticipating and half-dreading what is to come. At times, while the music is reminiscent of bands such as UK's Fen, Shroud of Despondency manages to add an morbid atmosphere, such as the usage of clean vocals that are mixed on top of the underlying chaos.

The spoken vocals towards the end of Parting of the Way has a person talking about suicide and his attempts on committing suicide, backed by clean guitar lines, further bringing down the veil on the already dark atmosphere and increasing the morbidity of the album. There are also numerous acoustic passages and interludes, which might turn some people away from the album, does it well for me as the band seems to be able to crossover seamlessly between their abrasive and acoustic moments.

Honestly, the only thing that probably spoiled or affected my enjoyment of the album are the clean vocals that are littered throughout the album, such as on the track Sybil, but hey, beauty isn't exactly what people are expected to look for in a depressive/suicidal black metal band right?

While Shroud of Despondency has taken a 9 year break since the last proper full length release, it is evident that the years of seeming inactivity have not gone to waste with this release, and is certainly a force to look out for this year.