Band:	Dreadful Shadows
Album:	Buried Again
Style:	Gothic metal
Release date:	1996
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Providence
02. Chains
03. Condemnation
04. Dusk
05. Obituary
06. Everlasting Words
07. Dissolution
08. Mortal Hope
09. The Racking Call
10. Buried Again
11. Dusk [reissue bonus]
12. Outside [David Bowie cover] [reissue bonus]
13. Paradize [reissue bonus]
14. Coma White [Marilyn Manson cover] [reissue bonus]

"Buried Again" is the 2nd Dreadful Shadows official release. There are some changes in the line-up of the band because Frank Hofer and Stefan Neubauer, the two guitarists of "Enstrangement", have left the band. The Shadows from a 5-member band become a 3-member band, since Sven Friedrich plays the guitars on this album.
After the vigorous debut album "Enstrangment", the Shadows continue writing exceptional compositions full of desperation, depression and gloomy and dreary atmosphere harmonizing in their music both "aggressive" and sensitive full of emotions moments, expressing either anger and disgust or depression and pain. "Buried Again" is a journey into a bleak landscape where hope has died and grey colors surround every thought, every image that comes in mind. The Shadows show that as the years pass by they become better and that some day they're going to be a big name in the gothic rock scene. In my opinion, with their four albums, they made it and they could achieve more if they hadn't broken up.

"Providence" is the introduction of the album and is based on the keyboards but also we can hear some electro, drum and guitar sounds. The keyboards perform a mysterious and full of suspense atmosphere prefacing the next song, "Chains". The synths in the beginning perform a distressful atmosphere. Sven's voice is being accompanied by the keyboards' melodies and the acoustic guitar chords singing in a serene but vivid way. When the time has come for the refrain the guitars sound heavier and Sven shouts full of anger and disgust "My chains will never fall" accepting his tragic destiny. These emotional variations of Sven's voice are really fantastic with Sven knowing how to interpret in a representative way every verse. Lyrics utterly pessimistic leaving no traces of hope and destroying any chance of moral uplift.

"Condemnation" continues the album and melancholic guitar chords begin the song giving their place to heavy guitar riffs being accompanied by the keyboards' entrancing melody. Sven sings in a heart-rending way "let me out" under the melancholic sound of the keyboards and the acoustic guitar until he reaches despair and finally shouts "Let me Out" with a painful aggressive voice full of bitterness. Again Friedrich passes the melancholic emotions that overrun his soul through his lyrics in a poetic way and accompanies them with the ideal music. A composition that exudes only pain and travels you to melancholic dimensions where the shadows of "Dusk", the next composition, rule. The acoustic guitars and the keyboards accompany the utterly representative voice of Sven who continues singing in a quivering and heart-rending way while a sweet female voice accompanies him through his suffering. The melody of the female voice in combination with the piano and the melodic guitar riffs add another melancholic tone to the already dreary soundscape. Sven totally lives his lyrics, lyrics that create inside the listener's mind and in front of his very eyes sunless pictures, pictures full of pain. Every lyric creates and a different grey picture.

And the tragedy goes on with "Obituary", a song musically based on the piano and the keyboards. A female voice sings from above while the piano and the synths perform a gloomy atmosphere. Sven's emotional interpretation lends to the song a wailing tone. The piano, the acoustic guitar chords and the keyboards perform the ideal atmosphere for Sven's voice to be heard, a voice exceptionally melancholic that has no intention to interpret cheerful lyrics. "Everlasting Words" follows and in this composition the Shadows flirt with electro sounds, mainly during the beginning. The guitars are really great and the one great riff comes after the other. The bass guitar gives groove with its dreary pulse and in combination with the keyboard melodies from above and the great guitar riffing evoke a gloomy and dreary atmosphere. "Dissolution" comes next. An electro beginning and then the heavy guitar riffing with great keyboard ideas follow. Simply this is one of the heaviest songs of the album. The lyrics again here are full of death, pain and misery. "Mortal Hope" follows with both the acoustic guitars and the keyboards perform a nostalgically melancholic atmosphere. Sven sings lyrics full of painful memories since his beloved one has passed away (according to the lyrical concept of the song). The atmosphere is mournful with Sven remembering and wondering "when will I see you again", "when will I kiss your lips again." Sven's interpretation, the way he sings, makes a question without answer, a question that floats while listening to the song. Why did she have to die? Why her?? The song ends with female voices singing "when will i see you again, when will I kiss you again" while the keyboards accompany them.

The wounds don't seem to be healed and pain continues with "The Racking Call". The acoustic guitars perform a dark atmosphere and accompany Sven through his melancholic interpretation. The outbreaks with heavy guitar riffs with Sven singing ecstatically and shouting come after the soft acoustic moments with Sven singing in a tranquil emotional way and reversely. The lyrics are simply wonderful and again pessimistic. The condemned soul keeps on wandering the earth with the last composition, "Buried Again". The keyboards simply perform a tranquil melancholic atmosphere, while the acoustic chords accompany Sven, a Sven that sings in a so passionate way. An outbreak with heavy guitar riffs breaks the deadly silence? for the silence to come again in a while with the simple but always willing to depress you keyboard melodies. The song ends, and so the album, with the tranquil and sweet sound of the piano?

Definitely a great option for the lovers of the gothic music, rock and metal, since the Shadows balance between both genres combining the aggressiveness of gothic metal with the lyricism of gothic rock.