An hour of symphonic funeral doom from the heartlands of Texas here. This is a one man project from Ryan (no further name given) and he is also behind various other bands such as Hordes Of The Morning Star, Intestinal Disgorge and Normpeterson whom I am guessing are all varied and different affairs from this one. As far as the group name is concerned it is a bit of a misnomer, there is nothing in the way of howling here, only guttural and hoary, low in the mix vocals. Perhaps the Plodding Void would be a better name as there is a lot of that going on here. That is not to say that it is bad at all in fact the melodies that intertwine the five lengthy numbers is rather beautiful even if they are not going anywhere particularly fast.
This could perhaps come with a warning stating that it is not advisable to operate heavy machinery or drive whilst listening to it. I found that out yesterday when giving it an afternoon spin and sparking out during the second number only to wake up a couple of hours later. This is funeral doom though and such minimalist natures are to be expected and the symphonic air of this gives it an almost neo-classical feel, with the keyboards on numbers such as the descriptively entitled ‘The Primordial Gloom,’ casting a shroud clad air of misery over proceedings. It is all very dreamy perhaps with nightmares lurking in its wake and musically this hits all the right places and could well enrapture any lover of bands as diverse as Nortt, Ahab, Evoken and Esoteric.
There is a cold feel to this right down to the artwork on the cover portrait by Fyodor Vasilyev which is presented on a nice card inlay, again in a minimalist fashion. In a way although it feels like a slight cop-out this is one of those releases that I feel should be reviewed in such a fashion too. There are not a million and one things that can be said about this album, it is not hugely diverse and I feel like I have practically said it all already. This is well worth seeking out and is an album I will be both happy to fall asleep and stay awake with again on future listens. In essence ‘Shadows Over The Cosmos’ is a slumbering suicidal symphony which deserves to be experienced.
http://www.myspace.com/thehowlingvoid
