Forum.RttP{the review of shroud of bereavement in metal maniacs is now in there/fixed}

if you happen to get a copy, read that shit! it's awesome!

i'm pretty stoked!

Shroud Of Bereavement/Withersoul
A Maddening Hue/Decent Split CD
Oak Knoll

Recently, the realm of the split cd has been confined to fill-in-the-blankcore, so this first installmwnt is the Oak Knoll Presents series came as a bit of a surprise. Withersoul and Massachusettes born Shroud Of Bereavement plow the fields of doom to varying degrees of success, giving the term "split cd" a relevance thet probably wasn't intended.
it's a good thing that Shroud Of Bereavement came first here, or I'd likely have never made it through the end of the disc. The septet uses their 25 minutes to craft melencholic Euro-doom, shot through with threads of My Dying Bride(think Angel And The Dark River) and a little Skepticism shoved into the coffin for that funeral tone attempted by so many, but executed by far too few. The tandem female vocals of Kelly Ann Sullivan and Julie Beaulieu (also keys here) channel Ihriel of Peccatum, beginning the malicious dirge of "A Maddening Hue." When you have songs that last a quarter of an hour, you damn well better keep them interesting, and this is where SOB triumphs. Earthbound guitars lay a crushing weight upon the listener, Dan Robinson's moribound rumblings doing their damndest to hold you down as the angelic intonations of his female counterparts threaten to pull the whole thing up and through the celestial plane.
"...And Their Tears Shall Flood The Earth" continues the atmospheric journey, the band seeming to effortlessly invoke that semi-catatonic state where you can do nothing except lie still as liquid emotion slaps against your ribcage from the inside with the force of a tidal wave. This is what doom is about and, though encased in darkness, it's clear that the music of Shroud Of Bereavement is a labor of love.
Pity I can't say the same for Withersoul. It's not that the musicians are unskilled in their craft, but they couldn't arrange themselves out of a paper casket with a blowtourch. Strange early '90s death riffs are crammed up against grating keys, and the token female vocals don't really add anything to the mix. How can they, really, when faced with the musical side of the band veering from what should (and could) be pummeling doom to lightweight delivery with precious little of the bottom-end this music demands? I kind of feel sorry for Laura, as she has a decent voice that would compliment a band of better caliber, and a delivery similar to rob lowe os Solitude Aeturnus, where shackled to his midrange. As it is, it's almost like she was given the lyrics the day before with instructions to "make it sound pretty."
As said, this is the true definition of a split cd. Sure the Withersoul contribution is a disappointment, but Shroud Of Bereavement makes it a worthy purchase on the strength of their material alone. [www.oak-knoll.com] -Lord Randall