Ethereal Shroud - They Became The Falling Ash - review
Ethereal Shroud - They Became The Falling Ash - review
Band
Ethereal Shroud Release date
February 21, 2015 Tracklist
01. Look Upon The Light02. Desperation Hymn
03. Echoes In The Snow
A review by
BitterCOld March 04, 2015
I've always loved "As Fire Swept Clean The Earth" by Enslaved. There is something about how the song builds up to those first two lines? 'I close my eyes? As fire swept clean the Earth.' It almost feels like a cleansing of sorts.
That is precisely the feeling that the opening track, "Look Upon The Light", evokes in me.
Granted, Ethereal Shroud sound pretty much nothing like the Black Floyd Space Vikings, but the tracks both capture that same emotion. It's pretty much 20 minutes of a bleak yet beautiful mixture of melodic black metal tremolo riffing that is merged with that "shimmer" of well executed post-rock. Think "Explosions In The Northern Sky." It sort of slowly envelopes you like warm bathwater? soothing and numbing you a bit before he kicks it up a notch that after being lulled goes off like a bomb blast.
The entire vibe is heightened by the largely cavernous and distant production. It sounds like sole member Joe Hawker went for a nice walkabout with his gear in tow, fell down a mine shaft into a large cave, and while killing a couple days in his temporary home waiting on a rescue team, figured, "Fuck it. Why not?" and recorded the framework of this album on the spot.
"Desperation Hymn" lives up to the title, being less friendly and far more urgent than the opener. A little more akin to a lot of the melodic one man black metal acts, only executed with the ability, vision and acumen of the innovators of the genre, rather than one of the countless one man acts that are ultimately just lacking. (Funny there is no lack to those whose music is lacking? some sort of irony.)
"Echoes In The Snow", the closer, pulls the framework of the opener - a super extended dance remix of a song - that builds, swells, lulls, and cycles anew, only with the occasional bout of desperation from the 2nd track? and built upon with some grandeur via bells, mild chanting and more open guitar work.
The whole experience lasts about an hour, which is about perfect. It has a nice flow, start, middle, and end without feeling horribly drug out? Always a danger when tossing two songs exceeding 20 minutes in length into a three song album.
I stumbled on to this via "One time at bandcamp" and enjoyed it enough that I felt compelled to share with the rest of the Metal Storm class. So name your own price (preferably something north of zero), download it, pop it on to your phone or mp3 player, wait until dark, then go explore that creepy part of town near you.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 04.03.2015 by
Written on 04.03.2015 by
BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009. Comments
Comments:
7
Visited by
300 users
 Posts: 7894 |
Posts: 7894
The last paragraph should have teach you to go to bandcamp frequently and check out new acts making splendid music. =P Anyway, great review. Not gonna listen now as lot of records piling up in checklist but this will have a long wait.
Loading...
|
 Posts: 3593 |
Posts: 3593 Written by deadone on 04.03.2015 at 06:09 Wow. Here the worst thing that can happen to you is getting stabbed and robbed, but at least they don't rob your anal virginity  .
---- Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
Loading...
|
|
Posts: 566 |
|
|
Posts: 6  |
Posts: 6
Thank you for reviewing my album so positively, I really appreciate it! All the best.
Loading...
|
| Posts: 15358 |
Posts: 15358 Written by Noctus on 05.03.2015 at 00:06 was a thoroughly enjoyable album, made writing easy. hopefully it gets you a few more hits!
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
Loading...
|
|
Posts: 33  |
Posts: 33
An amazing travel into dark snowy corners, thanks for the well-written review, without it i wouldn't found this album (soon) 
---- Shake the silence and hear what it say ~In Flames
Loading...
|
 Posts: 6941 |
Posts: 6941
DAAAAMN. I'm a few (several, many) months late to the game here but... wow. Easily will be in the top 10 albums of this year. How does he do it? I concur wholeheartedly with the awe toward how fast this album flies by. Accurate review for a great album.
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
Loading...
|
Hits total: 6890 | This month: 3