It’s cold out there. Everything about this second album and follow up to the impressive “Nihil Euphoria” (2013) from Russia’s Shallow Rivers suggests frost, hopelessness and unmitigated melancholy. So it is with the ominously titled “Of silent winds that whistle death”. The downtrodden death metal has a mechanical edge. Rising out of the gloom and the merciless growls are lofty patterns. It’s an impressive blend, enhanced by the spoken word, which put The Prophecy in mind.
“The Leaden Ghost” amounts to six hefty slabs. Throughout the album there’s always a sense of rising majesty yet it’s all cloaked in frozen torpor, expanding with drum triggers and a lush and expressive guitar sound and then slowing to present a symphonically miserable scene. “Light upon us, haze around us” exudes a multitude of patterns, working its way through funereal doom to triggers and even lofty choral tones. I didn’t sense much light or haze. “Scorched, wretched, torn, then crumbled to the sea” fits the bill better as a story is told of a ship heading towards its fate amid chaos and scornful laughter from on high. It is relentless, and to be honest, as a listening experience, it’s grim and grimmer. “We are cold” doesn’t have so many words, but imposes itself with its modern black metal style progression, which drives us forward melodically and persistently in an aura of bleak hopelessness. “Snow” has the underlying tone of quietly whispering death in another bleak but instrumentally varied and atmospheric soundscape. Mid way through it takes itself off into a land of pure death metal. All that remains is the title track which marches off in determined and deathly fashion into a scene of endless suffering. It’s a typically harsh, long drawn out affair but with majesty, melancholy, loftiness and purpose.
Grim and cold are the best words I can use to describe this deathliest of albums. The overall atmosphere is the same but the progressive style of movement and instrumental layers provide the interest and challenge. In “The Leaden Ghost”, Shallow Rivers deliver a dark and intense album.
(7/10 Andrew Doherty)
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