Shroud of despondency-Pine

2012

This is a somewhat confusing album from Wisconsin's Shroud of despondency or maybe it's just that this band is confused about their direction. It's a black metal album first, but on occasion they seem to get a notion in their heads to be an experimental act as well. Unfortunately it doesn't always sound like they planned on both of these styles ahead of time. The results are that it works on occasion and at other times the experimental parts sound tacked on. That's kind of a shame because many of the experimental and oddly paced bits are quite good. They show some real skill in knocking out some crazed bursts although the placement of these passages doesn't always work. On the other hand the black metal elements which make up the majority of their songs tend to be fairly generic and uninspired at times. I think I am mainly bothered by this album not because it's bad. No, in fact there is some real potential here and at times they get into progressive elements and start to latch onto something. However I think lack of planning cut short what could have been a very interesting album. Maybe their writing skills will grow with time or perhaps this album turned out exactly how they wanted it to. For me it's a hit and miss affair from a band who had some decent ideas but they couldn't get them all in line.