Source of Deep Shadows - Fading Emptiness ...

Polish gang Source of Deep Shadows has been in doom-service since 2004, and even though their first death-doom opus "Source of Doom and Perpetual Night" was qualitatively superior versus standard works of some beginners, it lost a sufficient definition of musical sharpness in it’s canvases due to a certain proportion of rawness, which was one of characteristics of their early material. Several years have passed, and the trio offers to the audience their new CD with title brief and sacramental "Fading Emptiness" which pushes us to the right conclusion – guys are on their path of death doom again, though a press release of band’s label Redrum 666 confuses me as it says of "funeral especially for fans of Evoken, Skepticism, Mournful Congregation, Paradise Lost ".

Well, why not, let it be funeral! In the end I could agree with that sentence after listening of that mystical "Intro" and six-minute long track "Fading Desolation", Source of Deep Shadows rocks with measured and very slow death doom stuff, but I’m not sure that this song was the best choice to open the album – too slow to start. Next one, “Dark Escape”, comes with enticing acoustic chords but it’s atmosphere is heating up fast and bursts into death doom storm breaks off after a while simply in the death-vortex. Dod, band’s frontman, still may be proud with his reverberating brutal roar, so the story about the night creatures, "separating the flesh from the bones" sounds pretty convincing in his interpretation. The song "Primordial Fears" is structurally similar to its predecessor, but Source of Deep Shadows crew has reserved more space and time for fierce death-attacks.


At the same time, changing of tempo, growing tension of composition make an compelling effect and it becomes absolutely nonessential thing – which genre dominates in these tunes. Dod once said to me that main challenge which Source of Deep Shadows set before them was to write doom music which wouldn’t be boring. Okay, I have to assure you – they did it! "Endless Cold" sounds like a more elegant version of "Fading Desolation", but the composition is not so overloaded with heaviness of tombstones and smell of black soil; guitar’s acoustic passage brings a thrilling effect of necro-coldness so this theme is widely open in the song. I think it would be right to admit sharp compositional sense as one of few advantages of Source of Deep Shadows, for example they know when and how guitar solos should sound and even the absence of a live drummer seems unimportant factor considering common record’s quality. "Crystal Cage" (pt.I) combines the leading motives of the whole album – it moves from the hurricane shred to lengthy straying in musical spaces, disappearing in the distance solo with clear heavy bass and persistent growling. The second part of "Crystal Cage" sounds a little more avant-garde and melodic. The album closes with triumphal march of mournful procession of "Only Dust". The curtain falls. Correct tombstones, level the ground on the graves.

Source of Deep Shadows have shown a conscious, non-trivial approach to interpretations and recording of well-known doom patterns. They were able to transcend death-doom canons, which were kept in their previous work "Source of Doom and Perpetual Night", they almost abandoned the ambient background, so it was good to hear of them again though they absolutely refused for practical reasons lyrics in Polish, and that fact is a bit disappointing. But as you noticed, the release has made me a good impression – it’s content worthy of high praise, and it shows that men tend not to adhere to specific structures, the music for them is above all – it’s an art, and shouldn’t such approach be valued above everything else? There is a category of musicians who claim that they want to create something of their own, should I say that not everyone is obtained; "Fading Emptiness" demonstrates - there are exceptions to these rules, you can keep the boundaries of style and at the same time a bit to extend them. Pay attention to it.

Words: Aleks Evdokimov

Source of Deep Shadows @ Myspace