Review: Shape of Despair – Monotony Fields

Shape of Despair
Monotony Fields

Season of Mist
Street: 06.16
Shape of Despair = Ahab + Anathema (old) + Skepticism

For a heavy-handed and always slow-paced doom metal group, Finland-based Shape of Despair’s newest album leads me to a more peaceful state of mind than anything dreadful. The band has always kind of been that way: dense but not suffocating. It has been nine years since the band put out a full-length, and in those nine years, the advancement of production techniques comes to the forefront here, mainly in the key/synth style of the band. The keys are richer and much more developed, and they set up a wondrous and magnificent atmosphere with warm tones and growled, downtrodden vocals. It’s almost like getting wrapped up in a blanket with the warm and thick atmosphere even when the songs run into the realms of despair and negativity in life, or hopelessness. In the end, navigating the rich and thought-provoking moments of the album is a journey worth taking. –Bryer Wharton