Shallow Rivers - The Leaden Ghost (CD)

Review
Ave Noctum
7/10
04.03.2015

It’s cold out there. Everything about this second album and follow up to the impressive “Nihil Euphoria” (2013) from Russia’s Shallow Rivers suggests frost, hopelessness and unmitigated melancholy. So it is with the ominously titled “Of silent winds that whistle death”. The downtrodden death metal has a mechanical edge. Rising out of the gloom and the merciless growls are lofty patterns. It’s an impressive blend, enhanced by the spoken word, which put The Prophecy in mind.

“The Leaden Ghost” amounts to six hefty slabs. Throughout the album there’s always a sense of rising majesty yet it’s all cloaked in frozen torpor, expanding with drum triggers and a lush and expressive guitar sound and then slowing to present a symphonically miserable scene. “Light upon us, haze around us” exudes a multitude of patterns, working its way through funereal doom to triggers and even lofty choral tones. I didn’t sense much light or haze. “Scorched, wretched, torn, then crumbled to the sea” fits the bill better as a story is told of a ship heading towards its fate amid chaos and scornful laughter from on high. It is relentless, and to be honest, as a listening experience, it’s grim and grimmer. “We are cold” doesn’t have so many words, but imposes itself with its modern black metal style progression, which drives us forward melodically and persistently in an aura of bleak hopelessness. “Snow” has the underlying tone of quietly whispering death in another bleak but instrumentally varied and atmospheric soundscape. Mid way through it takes itself off into a land of pure death metal. All that remains is the title track which marches off in determined and deathly fashion into a scene of endless suffering. It’s a typically harsh, long drawn out affair but with majesty, melancholy, loftiness and purpose.

Grim and cold are the best words I can use to describe this deathliest of albums. The overall atmosphere is the same but the progressive style of movement and instrumental layers provide the interest and challenge. In “The Leaden Ghost”, Shallow Rivers deliver a dark and intense album.

Author: Andrew Doherty

Review
Chronicles of Chaos
8.5/10
03.03.2015

What's that?! A totally different Shallow Rivers meet the listener with _The Leaden Ghost_, so different from the band that had performed on their previous and impressive _Nihil Euphoria_ that you would find it extremely hard to even register the fact this is indeed the very same band; when we say this album sees a totally different band, we mean -totally- different.
Shallow Rivers are a couple of guys from Revelations of Rain, and the question that immediately pops up is why can't Revelations of Rain write and play such good music? The guys are obviously capable of providing us with some powerful, provocative and thrilling metal -- that's apparent from listening to both debut and sophomore -- so where has this talent been hiding while the musicians played under the Revelations of Rain moniker?

Anyway, forget about the relatively lightweight, user-friendly, semi-gothic, quasi-romantic doom/death the band have created on their _Nihil Euphoria_ debut album; although well written and executed, exhibiting some engaging melodies -- that album is nothing compared to _The Leaden Ghost_ in terms of anger, hatred and heaviness.

So instead of going nowhere, wallowing in their own stylistic prison, Shallow Rivers have decided to evolve and move on, not unlike some of their label-mates who have reinvented themselves in quite extreme a manner (Reido, Septic Mind, Narrow House and The Morningside, to name a few), switching sides, increasing the intensity of their anger, delving deeper into the art of metal, reinventing themselves and eventually -- sounding like an utterly different, new, improved, more bestial an entity than before.

Shallow Rivers now offer us a dark and atmospheric death metal of the slower, tamer kind in terms of velocity, but much increasing their vitriol; the compositions feel like home and the ambiance is heavy on dark emotions and vehemence, with barely a hint of romanticism or gothica still noticed; the album sounds fresh and huge, and instead of being centered around melody -- the quintessential factor of the band's debut album -- this time the recording targets bitter and undying hatred as its main sonic theme.

The riffs are definitely death metal, and so is the power and anger the songs radiate with. The sound is low and thundering, and the song writing is one part traditional and one part adventurous. Some tracks, like the opening "Of Silent Winds that Whistle Death", exhibit a strong old-school approach not unlike what other bands not strictly associated with doom but rather with death metal were performing a decade or two ago, only now Shallow Rivers offer their own interpretation of the style, making it way more interesting and atmospheric than most of the genuine old-schoolers out there.

The vocals of Vladimir Andreev are unreal; they are dark and guttural, with that deep punch exhibited by prodigies such as Septic Flesh, but in this case Mr. Andreev's vocals are surprisingly intelligible; he also experiments with spoken verses as well as with other, softer as well as harsher approaches to utilizing the human vocal chords. They all fit so well together, they become one of this album's quintessential pillars, proving that vocals are a crucial factor where hard-hitting music is concerned, the torch-bearers for the music to follow (so basically, fuck instrumental metal!).

Based on the tragic poem "The Wreck of the Hesperos" by the 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, _The Leaden Ghost_ is a massive work both lyrically and musically, incorporating well written, long poetic lyrics (in English) -- some of which are inspiring and epic -- and bitter music that has tragedy written all over its sad frequencies.

_The Leaden Ghost_ takes the listener to the point where the basics of the doom/death style were born, deep in the bowels of slow and atmospheric death metal of old, where melody and brutality reigned in equal measures and where being traditional did not mean, automatically, being boring and faceless. This album has many angles to show you, some to be only revealed in future listening sessions; fine-tuned death/doom that has been brought to the level of being pure art. Buy this album.

Author: Chaim Drishner

Review
Metalhead.it
7/10
12.03.2015

Il duo russo Shallow Rivers, qui al secondo album, è dedito a un funeral/death/doom metal che alterna in modo intelligente durezze sonore e aperture melodiche. Fedelmente ai canoni del genere abbiamo in “The leader Ghost”, dalla copertina forse fin troppo minimale, solo sei brani per uno sviluppo che sfiora l’ora. In “Of silent Winds that whistle Death”, di dodici minuti, c’è molto più death che doom (e anzi in alcuni passaggi le ritmiche sconfinano ‘allegramente’ nel black): lo stile vocale di Vladimir Andreev ricorda, a tratti, addirittura David Vincent! Solo la chiusa è raffinatamente gotica. Nella lunghissima “Light upon us, Haze around us”, di 16 minuti esatti, c’è spazio praticamente per tutto: in questo caso la dimensione gothic/doom aumenta, ma è sempre efficacemente contrastata da esplosioni di violenza difficilmente controllabili. “We are cold” è veloce e breve, ma il guitar working è in ogni caso di incredibile pesantezza; anche “Snow” ha più di un momento black, mentre la titletrack, altra tirata di circa dodici minuti, ci mette pure dei passaggi estremamente malinconici. Ho detto decine di volte che aspettarsi delle novità dal doom è del tutto fuori luogo, ma gli Shallow Rivers svolgono bene il proprio compito.

Author: René Urkus

Review
Lords of Metal
7.1/10

Het debuut van het Russische Shallow Rivers was een aardig doom/death metal album waar echter geen moment originaliteit aan te ontdekken is. Inmiddels is de band geslonken tot duo. De twee overgebleven heren hebben geprobeerd om een nieuwe impuls te geven aan hun stijl. Dat is ze ook zeker gelukt. De nadruk ligt niet meer op de melodieën, hoewel die nog steedse belangrijk zijn. Er wordt nu geprobeerd om nog zwaarder te klinken en zo nu en dan ook sneller te spelen. Als ik een vergelijking zou moeten maken dan zou ik het ergens tussen Mourning Beloveth en Ophis plaatsen. Wat dat betreft heeft de band een stap vooruit gezet, want de songs zijn echt prima geschreven. Toch is het niet allemaal koek en ei. Omdat er geen drummer meer is, zijn de drums geprogrammeerd. De gebruikte samples klinken echter erg vervelend. Dat neemt een groot deel van het luisterplezier weg en dat is zonde. Voor het volgende album toch maar een echte drummer zoeken of betere samples gebruiken.

Author: Pim B.