Having formed a good fifteen years ago as the solo project of Rory Heikkila, it’s only been recently that Shroud of Despondency became prolific with full length albums (having turned into a fully-fledged band around 2011-ish). This is the band’s fifth album, and it’s quite a meaty one at that, spanning two discs of varying material to keep things fresh. Double albums can go either way; they can captivate if the material is strong, or they can drag like a dog’s ass – luckily ‘Tied To A Dying Animal’ is an album which engages through variation and – most intriguingly – something different from the norm.
Disc one is named ‘For Innocence, Beauty, and Those Who Defile’, and is very much the ‘metal’ material. Stylistically, they’re hard to nail down under one sub-genre. They’re extreme, with quite a chunk of black metal to their sound, but also a sizeable wedge of doom and death metal influences. Tracks such as ‘Clenched Jaw’ has some splendid Emperor-like passages, sweeping amongst the twisted soundscapes laid down by chugging Morbid Angel styled riffage. I can definitely detect Enslaved influences in their sound (not only the harsher rasping end of the vocals, but also the melodious leads and solo work which colour this release so vibrantly). I really get a kick out of their interesting riffage, it stands out and stands them apart as a separate entity from so many of their peers. The guitars weave effortlessly together, pouring with unpredictability and even ranging into the realms of progressiveness/technicality at times. It’s hard to second guess an album as different as this, channelling strangely eerie sections one moment, sweeping into bursts of speed and rage the next, powering forth with rangy dual guitar harmonies and barrels of talent to make for a fascinating listen.
Disc two is named ‘For Those Who Leave and Find Better Devils’, and is the neo-folk/acoustic portion of the release. This reminds me of early Tenhi at times, with sparse percussion, peaceful acoustic pieces and sporadic portions of male & female vocals all combining to create some serious forest-y atmospheres. Synth occasionally comes into play, keeping an eerie edge to ‘The Whore & The Politician’, with spooky Theremin appearing from time to time, wailing alongside the distorted guitar solos which sometimes seep through, patching over from the albums alter-ego ‘metal’ disc. I don’t think I have a preference to either disc, although I perhaps found myself returning to the ‘metal’ side more than the ‘neo-folk’ side, this was more to do with mood rather than quality of the material. Both work together really well, and although having to set around an hour & a half aside to listen to both back to back as presumably intended, it certainly works as a ‘whole’ if you can afford it the time.
Having read a recent statement from the band, it would seem that after a tumultuous recording session for this album, the band has now returned to being the solo project of Rory Heikkila, with a suggestion of more sparsely released material in the future. Hopefully this does not soon spell the end of this band, as they stand as an interesting landmark amongst the fields of so many pre-packed, plastic metal bands which we’re constantly fed on a revolving conveyor belt from the larger labels. Fingers crossed for their future – totally engaging!
(8/10 Lars Christiansen)
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