Long time no doom metal to grace the pages of this zine. Now it is time to correct that, and what better way to do it than with new Shape of Despair record. Finns have been in the scene since 1998, even before that when there was a band called Raven. This band is featuring members and former members of Finnish bands such as Finntroll, Throes of Dawn, Impaled Nazarene, Tyrant, Barathrum…

What to expect on this record? This is band´s fifth full length and it has been seven years since the last album came out. This opus features six songs of despair, slow funeral doom with lots of atmospheric parts, melancholic melodies and sorrow mixed with partly aggression done in a way only Finnish bands can do it. Songs are long, with shortest being just under eight minutes but it does not get boring for a second. Quite the contrary, guitar work, synths and drums carry us to some other dark place, coupled with vocal interplay, courtesy of singers Henri and Natalie whose voices fit just perfectly in the whole picture. Death doom growls interwine with clean passages and melodic parts, emphasizing loneliness, misery, pain and futility of life itself. But, this record also gives hope. Why? Because, no matter how hard, hopeless it is, metal is still here and always will be.

8,5/10