Shadow Season - The Frozen
2003 - Sound Riot Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Sound Riot website.
The core duo of this band consists of Winter (vox and bass) and Void (guitars), who may be recognisable to some as former members of the Irish black metallers Witchhammer - and to create this four-track EP, they've also roped in members of Gehenna and Forlorn for guest vox and, most impressively of all, Trym of Zyklon and Emperor for all of the drumming. So, you'd be expected a straight forward, old-school black metal battering, right?
Well, you'd be almost right. This is, on occasion, an altogether different beast to most modern black metal. Yes, Trym's unmistakable inhuman battery of his kit keeps the music rattling along at a breakneck pace for the most part, and there's enough of the tremolo-picked, razor-sharp riffage to keep Emperor fans happy, but every now and again the group open up to other muses - like the presence of a viola throughout, giving an altogether more atmospheric vibe to certain passages, or the near death metal brutality of, say, the intro to 'Frozen'.
The production is crystal clear, leaving every instrument room to breathe and particularly giving the guitars a harsh, biting but never too trebly tone. The vocals generally rest more in the death-growl camp than the blackened screeching generally favoured by comparable bands, and the variation and compositional skill displayed in the tracks retains interest and raises Shadow Season above the pack.
Overall, an excellent effort - looking forward to their first full-length!
8/10
2003 - Sound Riot Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Sound Riot website.
The core duo of this band consists of Winter (vox and bass) and Void (guitars), who may be recognisable to some as former members of the Irish black metallers Witchhammer - and to create this four-track EP, they've also roped in members of Gehenna and Forlorn for guest vox and, most impressively of all, Trym of Zyklon and Emperor for all of the drumming. So, you'd be expected a straight forward, old-school black metal battering, right?
Well, you'd be almost right. This is, on occasion, an altogether different beast to most modern black metal. Yes, Trym's unmistakable inhuman battery of his kit keeps the music rattling along at a breakneck pace for the most part, and there's enough of the tremolo-picked, razor-sharp riffage to keep Emperor fans happy, but every now and again the group open up to other muses - like the presence of a viola throughout, giving an altogether more atmospheric vibe to certain passages, or the near death metal brutality of, say, the intro to 'Frozen'.
The production is crystal clear, leaving every instrument room to breathe and particularly giving the guitars a harsh, biting but never too trebly tone. The vocals generally rest more in the death-growl camp than the blackened screeching generally favoured by comparable bands, and the variation and compositional skill displayed in the tracks retains interest and raises Shadow Season above the pack.
Overall, an excellent effort - looking forward to their first full-length!
8/10
