Artist: Garden of Shadows
Label: Wicked World
Release Date: 9/19/00
Rating: 3 Skulls
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Title: Oracle Moon Artist: Garden of Shadows Label: Wicked World Release Date: 9/19/00
Rating: 3 Skulls |
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Pestilence's Review:
So kiddies, here we have a death metal offering from this Maryland band that sounds like it came straight from Europe. Oracle Moon represents their first widespread release (2nd if you count the demo) to the underground metal community (yeah, that's you) and is comprised of 7 tracks, one of which is merely an intro. Six songs you say? I think that would actually qualify as an EP, except in this case each song is at least eight minutes long. From this you can correctly infer that these songs are of epic proportion.This band's sound can pretty much be lumped into the "European Death Metal" category, being chock full 'o melody, tempo changes, guttural growls and fully epic composition. Although they list their influences as many (check out the Metal Update interview), the main one that I notice relates back to My Dying Bride. The songs are a little faster than most of MDB's offerings in general, but the influence on these compositions is absolutely unmistakable. Imagine MDB without any violins or clean vocals, but with another guitar added into the mix providing more dynamic leads than you would hear in the MDB tunes, and you have about 70% of this band's sound down pat. The other 30% is comprised of faster, more classic Euro-Death Metal passages or brooding riffs, with creative instrumentation strewn throughout. There is even a little of the female vocal thing, both whispers and beautiful singing, on a few select tracks.
The album is well-done overall and it packs a lethal punch as you begin listening to the first, and title-track, "Oracle Moon." This song does a great job of dragging you to the majestic depths these guys have managed to create. The second track, "Citadel of Dreams", is sure to not disappoint as well, continuing the audible attack (can you tell that I am leading up to something here? Well, can ya'?). Starting with track 4, the music is still good, but the compositions are not easily recognizable as separate entities causing the entire experience to go from "Hey, what is this cool shit!" to "Have I cut my toenails recently?" Once you get to that 4th track (3rd song), things kind of take a turn for the static. The album unwittingly becomes more like a soundtrack or background music at this point. They may have intended this to be the case, but I would be much happier if the whole album grabbed my attention as much as the first few tracks.
I mean, these guys are obviously excellent musicians and songwriters, but I think they have some developing to do. Don't get me wrong, this album is good, and you should definitely check it out if any of the above even sort of toots your willie, but there is definitely room for growth. If it were up to me, there would actually be more of the female vocals (is that a form of blasphemy?) to help continue the dynamic effect that kept me listening in the first place, or alternatively just lots more of the faster, heavier passages. A good album overall, and it is definitely a good thing to have this musical style emanate from within the borders of my homeland for once, rather than having to depend on the overseas lands for the more dynamic and creative fare. I look forward to their next endeavor for sure.
Pestilence
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