Estonian black metal described as a mix between Darkspace and Summoning – big names and truth be told, that’s pretty much what we get with this esoteric three-piece. At least on the surface anyway. Big washes of warm, spacey synths open ‘The Night Wind’, giving way to a funereal, echoing drum beat and doleful guitar chords. It’s an intriguing mix – cavernous and celestial, as much doom as it is black metal if I’m honest, the voluptuous synths never giving ground for a second, cloaking the whole record in a fog of sonic stardust.
There’s something appealing about this for sure – in many ways, the obscure band photos, hand-drawn artwork and deliberately obscure soundscape is a real blast of nostalgia, a hark back to those heady pre-internet mid-90s days where the atmosphere from releases like this was all-encompassing. Strange characters lurking hidden away in the far-flung reaches of a northern European wilderness crafting hymns to sorrow, despair and darkness. Wonderful. Unfortunately, Thou Shell of Death don’t quite manage to sustain this initial tingle of excitement as the album progresses.
The sad fact is that, whilst so many of the ingredients for a nostalgic, old-school atmospheric black metal experience a la the first Manes record are in place, ‘Sepulchral Silence’ quickly becomes a rather boring listen. The key problem is the lack of variation in pace or dynamics – OK, no-one expects a prog-esque variation in tempo or time-signature with material like this but the relentless one-dimensionality of the plodding drums and on-the-beat chord strums swiftly starts to get old.
Acts like Burzum or Xasthur can get away with this due to the captivating nature of their melodies and compositions, however Thou Shell of Death do not as yet have the songwriting deftness to support their lengthy, repetitive hymns. There are flashes of inspiration – the main refrain of ‘The Wood Water’ is well-structured for example – and at points, some double-kick action on ‘The Wind of Winter’ helps inject some energy into the listlessness. Nevertheless, by and large, this is a fairly one-dimensional trudge. Even the so-called ‘peculiar’ vocals aren’t all that exciting really – the usual reverb-laden yells with only the occasional ‘woooo!!!’ at the end of a line adding any sense of peculiarity.
Disappointing, then. There’s a lot to like about this record, no question – it’s a great sound and the atmosphere really is spot on – but there is unfortunately a lack of flair or inspiration in the songwriting that renders ‘Sepulchral Silence’ as much less exciting than I hope it would be. A shame but this is still one act I will be keeping an eye on.
(6/10 Frank Allain)
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