Shape Of Despair - Angels Of Distress - review
Shape Of Despair - Angels Of Distress - review
Tracklist
01. Fallen02. Angels Of Distress
03. Quiet These Paintings Are
04. ...To Live For My Death...
05. Night's Dew
A review by
Deadsoulman July 21, 2004
Angels Of Distress is actually almost an instrumental album, enhanced with ethereal female vocals and occasional growls scattered here and there. The singers are great but they're of course not the main interest. What we damned metalheads who fell in the doom cauldron (not long ago in my case) like in Shape Of Despair is their ability to create North Pole-like atmospheres. The intro of the album, 'Fallen', and its six minutes of brain-crushing yet subtle riffs says it all. Majestic keyboards, surreal female vocals,yearning violins and eventually some growlings who come to spit all the sadness of the world to your face, you get the idea, this is ice-cold beauty we are talking about, full of emotions and eager to bury every poor lost soul that dares venture in these barren moors, the kind of beauty that since then has inspired bands llike Swallow The Sun for example.
For the song 'Angels Of Distress', take the same recipe, add some more relentlessly depressing violins, and get ready for the next masterpiece. 'Quiet These Paintings Are' is indeed the central piece of the album, the final solution against all forms of happiness, joy and love. It's the kind of song that defines a whole genre. The melancholic keyboards, the weeping violins and the sorrowful vocals are all lost in an ocean of sadness and despair... The highlight of the album and one of the best songs I've ever heard. Finally, 'Night's Dew' is the only 'fast' song here, an excellent mid-paced instrumental to close wonderfully the album.
So before my soul dies, these are my last words: Shape Of Despair is now one of the best doom bands around. Angels Of Distress is simply an almost perfect album, a must-have for doom fans. For everybody. It is unique.
Written by Deadsoulman | July 21, 2004
Comments
Comments:
19
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Posts: 13427
Agreed with every word. That album is breathtaking. One of my all time favourites.  Good job, Deadsoulman!
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?  "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| Danielazo
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Posts: 1473
Excellent review. I give 10 points to this album In a word perhaps the best funeral doom album
---- Heaven queen , carry me away from all pain No reason to live for One reason to die for ... To live for my death ...
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| Kurzag
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| Basso
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Posts: 4943
Nevr heard such beauty in music before.
---- Blessed is he that murders Christ in himself and in his fellow men.  Written by TheBigRossowski on 10.02.2009 at 16:01
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| DragonSlayer
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| Vulture
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Posts: 1464
The best album ever.
---- You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it ~ Mean Streets
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Posts: 62
Superb. Finally something that I can say is as good as Longing For Dawn's ' A treacherous Ascension'. Amazingly realised album!
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Posts: 18612
I finally got it and listened to it just now. Woow... Just woow. This music was crushing, so cold and so beautiful. I never heard music that was like this before. This albu is unique. I recommend it to everyone no matter the genre they are into. This album is art! The moment the album ended I felt so cold and I didn't want to leave my bed... I was so astonished to move.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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Posts: 376
It killed my soul and buried me deep in an abyss of despair.Best funeral doom i've heard
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| ideosincrasy
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Posts: 268  |
Posts: 268
What can i say  ...... this is perfection to meso sad they didn't released any album for almost 6 years 
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Posts: 3723 Written by [user id=125952] on Today at 01:00 A peak of creation on this album.
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| LordHypnos
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