I am not going into a huge amount of detail about the background of Rising Shadows as the project is largely centred around Fredrik Klingwall who you can read about in the review of Anima Morte on this very update. He is joined here by various members of that band as well as others and there are similar parallels at times. The biggest difference however comes in the form of vocalist Linda Li who appears on some tracks.
It was only after she joined them that the group got beyond the demo stage and have including this now released three albums
As we start at ‘The Diluvian Empire’ where piano and lush vocals meet it is evident that there is a neo-classical feel running through this and as it picks up one could easily mention the likes of Dead Can Dance, Arcana and Rain Fell Within. This is very ethereal and as the vocals expand into gentle and beseeching operatic flow it quickly transports you to another place, one that is magical and not dwelling in the abject terror of the Anima Morte domain. There are some instruments that are not quite the norm although they are for this sort of music perhaps and it’s worth listening out for the likes of the sitar, Bouzouki and Celeste. The music is nicely textured and on the whole a fairly mellow affair that has you floating off with it. The organ changes things as we get to ‘Union Of The Fixed And The Volatile’ and we are back into what I can only describe as the dark filmic world of Anima Morte. With the angelic chorals airily breezing their way over the top of the more strident instrumentation I am reminded of another film this time Argento’s Tenebrae and yes it’s impossible not to mention the Goblin word again. It is as though the two styles meld together and the heavy bass work of ‘Melancolia 1’ gives gravity that is very much in the mould of Fabio Pignatelli and it is all effectively counterpoised by Linda’s harmonious chanting. ‘Fearless’ is the point where Linda’s vocals really shine through as she is the focus and singing with a lot more emphasis around tripped out sounding sitar and as the album progresses we have more scope to be enchanted by the vocals on numbers like ‘Wheel Of Fire’
I enjoyed this a lot although the slightly fragmented nature and the re-visitation towards the Italian soundtrack themes made me wonder if this was quite so self assured as to which direction it was looking for, having not heard the bands two previous recordings either made it slightly difficult to contrast. I was going to review this and Anima Morte together and am glad with hindsight that I did not as they are different in many ways. Although I certainly preferred the Anima Morte this is bound to be getting repeated listens too.
The album is for the time being free to download from the following link.
http://www.risingshadows.net
http://www.klingwall.se
Pete Woods
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