SHADOWSPAWN - Ashes Of Sorrow
March 17, 2015, 9 years ago
(Horror Pain Gore Death Productions)
Denmark's Shadowspawn create a sound that is pretty darn hard to warm up to on this EP, the band's local-band death/thrash coming across cold and, uh, chunky, nothing in particular setting the band apart from any of the countless bands opening up for Vital Remains or Jungle Rot next time they slink through town. At least that's how opener "Mind Shut Down" makes me feel. But a song like second cut here, "Life Is The Way You Die", is a good double-whammy of killer song title and good moody songwriting, the band finding a power that brings to mind a good Hail Of Bullets tune.
And so it goes for this frustrating EP, the band doing power-groove that just should not be ("Hellavation"), something that comes across like a take on Fear, Emptiness, Despair-era Napalm Death and works quite well ("Slaves In Delusion"), the unwelcome addition of keyboards (the all-around clunky "Sins Of The Deceiver"), and more grooves ("Ashes Of Sorrow"). More "Life Is The Way You Die" and "Slaves In Delusion", less everything else, for a powerful release next time out.