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░ ██ ██ Artist: Shattered Hope ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: Waters of Lethe █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2014 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2016-09-26 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Metal ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: Solitude Productions ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Source: CD ░ ▄█
░ █▓ Type: Album ▓█ ░
▓ █ Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo █ ░ ▓
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ Now, that's more like it! Quantum leaping from the █
█ band's pedestrian and extremely uninspired █
█ _Absence_ from 2010, to this monumental release █
█ four years later, Shattered Hope's latest gives █
█ you the impression you're listening to an █
█ altogether different band. Greek ensemble █
█ Shattered Hope most likely have learned their █
█ lesson well, mending their mistakes and polishing █
█ their compositional abilities to the maximum, and █
█ now, equipped with a new-ish sound and a far █
█ better sense of song writing etiquette, they have █
█ unleashed their _Waters of Lethe_ upon mankind, █
█ poised to strike and harm everyone and everything █
█ crossing its path. █
█ Venturing deeper into the slower and darker niches █
█ of doom / death metal, flirting now more than ever █
█ before with funeral doom, Shattered Hope present a █
█ massive album with a colossal, all-encompassing █
█ sound and horror-laden tunes, that may not be, in █
█ themselves, the most original of the lot, but they █
█ do, however, posses the essence from which █
█ darkness and nightmares are made. █
█ Listening to _Waters of Lethe_ is like staring at █
█ a legendary beast where every faculty in its █
█ bizarre morphology has been magnified and █
█ amplified. Everything has been taken to the █
█ extreme here: the drums are tremendously powerful █
█ yet sparse, the guitars are clinical and gigantic, █
█ the keyboard lines sinister and searing and the █
█ vocalist presents the most convincing set of █
█ growls you will ever hear. █
█ The general aesthetics, given the sheer power and █
█ outstanding ability to shatter, or at least crack █
█ the very fabric of existence, could be attributed █
█ to the death metal school of the darkest and █
█ slowest kind. The quasi-symphonic ethereal █
█ keyboards, manifesting themselves somewhere in the █
█ center, between the rear and the front of the mix █
█ -- never too prevalent or intrusive -- are the █
█ only factor found within the recording that adds a █
█ certain spiritual, blissful and even semi-romantic █
█ flavor to the music, without which all we are left █
█ with is an incessant barrage of megalithic sound █
█ waves having the sonic energy to move mountains █
█ and crush bones -- human bones. █
█ The eighty minutes of this recording, divided into █
█ six long tracks, don't show even a single weak █
█ moment; there is enough variation and dynamics █
█ within each track to keep the listener interested █
█ in what's coming next, each moment is a █
█ revelation, a tour-de-force of horror and tragedy █
█ exercised and manipulated by omnipotent metal █
█ paradigms and a massive production to match, █
█ enabling a crystal clear recording and a sound so █
█ crisp and vibrant, it will make the hairs at the █
█ back of your neck raise in awe. █
█ If you happen to like the excellent death-oriented █
█ sonic expressions embodied by doom monster albums █
█ such as Mare Infinitum's _Sea of Infinity_, Septic █
█ Mind's _The Beginning_, Mental Torment's _On the █
█ Verge_, or any kind of megalithic expression in █
█ the funeral-esque doom / death metal niche being █
█ at the very highest order of the food chain, █
█ coupled with the best production money can buy, do █
█ yourself a favor and take _Waters of Lethe_ for a █
█ ride -- it has got some sights to show you. █
█ "Here's to Death!"à █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. Convulsion 12:40 ░
░ 2. For the Night Has Fallen 11:17 ░
░ 3. My Cure is Your Disease 12:12 ░
░ 4. Obsessive Dilemma 10:38 ░
░ 5. Aletheia 15:02 ░
░ 6. Here's to Death 17:57 ░
░ 79:46 ░
░ ▒ ▒
▓ █ ░ ▓ ░
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