A little over a year ago I reviewed this bands debut and whilst it was hardly a breathtaking album it had some moments I enjoyed, particularly the way the band straddled various genres. The sophomore effort shows the band has honed their sound into something more biting yet still infused with that gothic tinge, a trait that seems to adorn German bands of this style for some reason.
With no intro, surprising for bands of this genre, “Enclosure No7” begins with a shouted vocal which has that metalcore tone to it. The use of synths signal a change to deathly growls showing the band has stuck with the style demonstrated on the debut. The influx of genre styles is still prevalent but structured far better, keeping the songs simple yet effective. Again a track like “Zero” has touches of Crematory as the song portrays a gothic angle more forcefully. The thrashier “The Chains Of Life” blends synths with sharp Dimmu-like riffing and incorporates a mild blast which I felt was out of place within the context of the atmosphere of the song.
“Reduced To A Beast” has a more upbeat and catchy approach that boasts some brass styled keys that reminded me of Septic Flesh and Dimmu yet again. The song veers into a heavy metal guise with some cleaner vocals that work OK making the song vibrant and highly accessible. Indeed this catchiness continues on “Enlightened By Shadows”, though I still feel the blasts should be purged. The longer, more in-depth tracks are enjoyable, taking on a myriad of personalities such as Old Mans Child power on “The Might Of Repression” which actually has a blast that works for the short time it is on. An acoustic vibe begins “Walls” and contains some of the heavier moments of the album right before a huge drop in pace is felt and the clean female singing appears which add a great deal of texture without succumbing to feeble warbling for the sake of it. Debatably the best song is “Two Souls Marked By Sorrow” which begins with more acoustics and a spoken vocal line. The slower more haunting melody is captivating as the cleaner vocals infuse the eeriness further. A big riff change builds up the tension as the double bass kicks in creating power with a quality lead. The return to acoustics and another lead and clean vocals signals an impending finale which you unduly get. I’m sure that by the end of the year this is likely to be forgotten about when I do my top 20 albums or so, but suffice to say “Shadowreign” is a half decent album of dark metal that isn’t afraid to capture the essence of various genres.
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