Sleeping Village Reviews
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!

SHADOWS - Out For Blood (Review)

6/20/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Written by: Blackie Skulless

Once in a blue moon, I’ll come across something that I find to be decent at best, worthwhile enough to revisit, and each subsequent revisit makes me appreciate it a little more. The Chilean heavy metal outfit Shadows fit that exact situation. Without the backing familiarity of their EP, going into this blind yielded many surprises. While in the realm of “traditional metal,” I would struggle to call their debut Out For Blood traditional at all. The term fits in regards to the riff style, but there’s really a lot going on here, giving it that effect of growing more addictive every time I hit it.

In a formulaic sense, this is everything I could ask for. Rough and raw rhythms with grating burrs make up an otherwise melodic foundation, backed by some thunderous basslines and eerie synths to muffle coarse edges. Emphasis on the melody, though, because almost every lead is surprisingly catchy amidst a foggy haze that matches the obvious occult-loving album art. It should come as no surprise that influences of doom metal make a pretty aggressive appearance. This is more evident in the presentation, however, not so much in the riff structure; very seldom do we find doomy riff stomps.


What made Out For Blood so hard to grip at first was the vocals, forcing everything I’ve described thus far to carry all consistency. What I mean is that not only are they very unconventional, but they change forms often. One minute, you have blackened, Venom-like grunts in the likes of “The Ripper,” before the very next song borders darker glam roots in “Sacrifice.” Hell, this song’s poppy intro sounds like something that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Dokken album at its roots, but the aggressive production and thick layers blend it right in without hesitation, similarly heard on opener “Nightstalker.” Don’t expect it to stop there, however, because here comes “Into The Nightmare” with a layer of King Diamond, channeling operatic chants into the same riff-tastic batter beside blackened vocals.
​


For how much happens, this is a very short runtime, being here and gone before you realize it. Clocking in just past the half-hour mark, all of these attacks are brief with some spooky transition tunes to help with the gradual shifts in delivery. It’s no accident that “Maniac” is sandwiched between two, needing the descent effect into such a dark number. On the other hand, “Forgotten Rites” may come close to the speed metal range, using ripping solos and rumbling drum beats for the harder edge, which bodes well on a quicker punch album that seeks variety. Closer “Alissa” returns to the aforementioned glammy field that could almost work as a soft song if, again, it weren’t for the overly hard production on the riffs and the atmosphere. Making such a thing work isn’t something I would say goes over well very often.

There’s a good chance I’m over-praising this work, and I can see some taking issue not only with the vocal inconsistency and the general idea, but I really enjoy how refreshing Shadows feels. Occult-themed heavy metal outfits are a dime a dozen, and most of the time I still eat up that whole dozen. The fact that this effort took me longer to appreciate is a good thing, because it actually feels like something unique and different from a genre I seldom complain about anyway. My advice is that if you struggle on your first listen, listen to it again.

Shadows - Out For Blood was released May 19th, 2023 via Sentient Ruin Laboratories. Find it here!

Shadows can be found:
Bandcamp
Facebook
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    WELCOME!

    We provide thoughtful reviews of the music that wakes us from slumber. 
    ​
    Written by a highfalutin peasantry.


    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021

    Categories

    All
    666
    Acid Rock
    Adventure
    Afrobeats
    A High Quality Death Metal Album
    Album Announcement
    Album Premiere
    Album Stream
    Alternative Rock
    Alt Metal
    Alt-metal
    Ambient
    Ampwall
    Antifascist
    AOTY
    Atmospheric
    Atmospheric Black Metal
    Atmospheric Doom
    Avant Garde
    Beat Tape
    Blackened
    Blackened Death Metal
    Blackened Doom
    Blackened Thrash
    Black Metal
    Black 'n' Roll
    Boom-Bap
    Brooklyn Artemis
    Brutal Death Metal
    Cinematic
    Classic Albums
    Classic Rock
    Compilation Album
    Concept Album
    Cosmic Death Metal
    Cover Song
    Crossover
    Crust
    Crust Punk
    Cybergrind
    Cyber Metal
    Dark Ambient
    Dark Metal
    Darksynth
    Deathcore
    Death Doom
    Deathened Black Metal
    Deathgrind
    Death Metal
    Death Thrash
    Demo
    Demo Tape
    Desert Rock
    Dissonant Death Metal
    Djent
    Doom
    Doomgaze
    Doom Metal
    Doomviolence
    Dream Metal
    Dream Pop
    Drone
    Dungeon Synth
    EDM
    Electronic
    Electronica
    Electronicore
    Emo
    EP
    Epic Metal
    Ethereal
    Europower
    Experimental
    Extreme Metal
    Faery-synth
    Family Friendly
    Fantasy
    Folk Metal
    Fresh Meat Friday
    From The Archives
    Funeral Doom
    Fuzz
    Goregrind
    Gothic
    Goth Rock
    Grind
    Grindcore
    Groove Metal
    Gross Death Metal
    Grunge
    Guest Post
    Gym
    Hardcore
    Hard Rock
    Harsh Noise
    Haunting
    Heavy Metal
    Heavy Psych
    Heavy Rock
    Hip Hop
    Hip-Hop
    Horror
    Horrorcore
    Indie Rock
    Industrial
    Industrial Metal
    Instrumental
    Instrumental Hip Hop
    Interview
    Jazz
    Jazz Rap
    Lists 2022
    Mars Metal
    Mathcore
    Melodic Black Metal
    Melodic Death Metal
    Melodic Metal
    Meme Reviews
    Metalcore
    Metallic Hardcore
    Metallic Sludge
    Metal Reviews
    Micro Reviews
    Mini Reviews
    Modern Metal
    Music Video
    Neoclassical Metal
    Noise
    Nu Metal
    Nu-metal
    NWOBHM
    NWOTHM
    Occult
    Olde-reviews
    Old-school-death-metal
    On-the-horizon
    Orchestral
    OSDM
    Playlist
    Playlist Curation
    Pop
    Pop Rock
    Post Hardcore
    Post-hardcore
    Post Metal
    Post-metal
    Post Rock
    Post-rock
    Post-sludge
    Powerdeath
    Power Electronics
    Power Metal
    Powerviolence
    Prog
    Progressive Death Metal
    Progressive Metal
    Progressive Rock
    Progressive Thrash
    Prog Rock
    Proto-metal
    Psych
    Punk
    Rap
    Rap Reviews
    Raw Black Metal
    Release Day Roundup
    Retro Rock
    Retrospective Reviews
    Reviews
    RnB
    Rock
    Rock & Roll
    Sci Fi
    Sci-fi
    Shoegaze
    Singer-songwriter
    Ska
    Skate Punk
    Skramz
    Slam
    Sludge
    Soundcloud
    Soundtrack
    Speed Metal
    Split Releases
    Stoner
    Stoner Doom
    Stoner Metal
    Stoner Rock
    Stoner Thrash
    Swedeath
    Swedish Death Metal
    Symphonic Black Metal
    Symphonic Metal
    Synth
    Synthwave
    Techdeath
    Technical Death Metal
    Thrash Metal
    Top 10
    Track Premiere
    Track Reviews
    Traditional Doom
    Traditional Metal
    Trap
    Trippy
    Two Of A Perfect Pair
    UKHC
    Underground Rap
    USPM
    Year End Lists

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!