Band:	Ethereal Shroud
Album:	They Became The Falling Ash
Style:	Atmospheric black metal, Funeral doom metal
Release date:	February 21, 2015
A review by:	BitterCOld

01. Look Upon The Light
02. Desperation Hymn
03. Echoes In The Snow

I like walking around my new home of Asuncion at night. After dark the city takes on a different feel. Opting to meander in new directions through new barrios is very intriguing and, at times, tinged with a little danger. I think with They Became The Falling Ash I've found the soundtrack to my next few explorations.

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.