Ghosts of winter have appeared again. It's dark, cold and damp outside. Nothing is yet frozen, but one can feel that the breath of Tuuletar will soon turn glacial. I happened to get Shadow Season's sole release, mini album 'The Frozen', during this autumn time.
'The Frozen' sounds like Norwegian second wave black metal, although the two architects of the band are Irish, also members of late Witchhammer. However, there are well-known faces from Norwegian black metal scene guesting on this mini album. Mainly dissonant, trebly riffing is what Shadow Season offer here, with a few more death metal-esque parts included. Most of the material sound ominous, while some sound melancholic. 'Phantom in the Glass' begins with a menacing attack, relenting to a melancholic part together with a viola, bringing the name Sun Of The Sleepless (ex-Empyrium guy Schwadorf's project) to my mind. This song is easily the highlight of this shortish EP. On the rest of the songs, one can hear brutish and lugubrious sides of Shadow Season, there is no place for beauty in these songs, even though the viola returns at the end of the last song. The biggest groan is the facelessness of the music, even though it's not bad at all, just nothing new. And the song writing isn't very good.
Drummer Trym (Zyklon) is the only notable guest together with the viola player, who leaves a mark. Trym does not show off, he just does his job. B. Winter's murky vocals are very boring and tame. Guesting duo from Gehenna do help a bit, but not that much that it would make that much difference. Productionwise this is very organic indeed, as it's moodwise, too. While guitars are on trebly side, bass and drums are adequately heavy.
The band seem to have disappeared underground or evaporated totally. With this debut, Shadow Season could not leave a permanent mark in the scene. While this is a promising effort at times, it's simply too monotonous. Not cold enough, not different enough. Maybe this is a good enough pick for those who have this kind of black metal close to their heart, or in it.
Rating: 5½ (out of 10) ratings explained
Reviewed by Lane
11/01/2007 16:32
