Montréal, Québec's Shroud have released a perfect blending of two extreme genres. Black metal elements of demonic, screechy vocals, tremolo picking, and black and roll beats. Then you have the Thrash tempo changes, galloping riffs, and break-neck speed sections. This album grabbed me by the back of the head and slammed my face into the concrete a dozen times during the first track.
It's not all sound barrier breaking speeds though. There are sections of clear black metal. Down tempo sections. Pure thrash. And every combination of the two sub-genres.
It's never easy to rate or review artwork. Just like the music, the artwork is subjective to personal taste. Does the album art for this album match what you're going to hear? 100% There's an evil, dreary, mournful feel to the album art. But there's also power in the imagery. This mirrors the album perfectly; a blend of foreboding, crushing weight combined with sections of pure frenzied energy. Now to really blow your mind, the album art was designed by the band's bassist Justin Cournoyer.
From a purely graphic design perspective the layout is good but could have done with some minor adjustments. I would like to know if the painting has been cropped. I get the feeling it has at the top and bottom center. If this is the case I would have reduced the crop and then played with the placement of the logo and album title. I've just never personally been a fan of the logo in the top corner with the album name in the bottom center. With a little more room at the top or bottom the logo and album name could have been placed together, possibly a little smaller even.
I'll edit this as soon as I can get the physical copy of the album in my hands. Oh, yes – this one is that good that I'll be adding it to my physical collection.
While I normally like adding something that stands out to me. A track that laid me to waste. A riff that had me play a single track over and over again. There's just too many of those moments on this album. Truly a no-skip album.
The production quality has a clarity not normally found on Black Metal albums. I know some of you would argue then it's not Black Metal in its truest form, and you'd be right. This isn't. It's Blackened Thrash. Rhythm guitar tones have just enough filth mixed into the distortion that it feels like it's tearing through your eardrums on its way to scratch that itch in your brain. Lead guitars aren't fully clean, just a touch of effects on them. They have a pitch that creates this other level of presence I've only heard a few times before, but just can't put my finger on the influence for the sound.
Bass lines aren't muddy or hidden. Not only do they stand out from the mix but there are sections where the bass comes out of the dark like a ninja. Punching you in the face so quickly you feel like you've just been gaslit by your own mind, "Did I just hear that?".
From what I could find the album was recorded and mixed by the band with guitarist Jordan Barillaro taking the lead role. This pushes my love of this album up even further. You know there was passion behind the mix, which I now understand the quality. That said there was some final polish put on by Tore Stjerna at Necromorbus Studio. Tore has worked with bands such as Watain and Mayhem. Nothing more needs to be said on why the production of this beast hits on the level it does.
The Bottom Line
I have listened to this album every day since it was released. I wanted to write this review the day after it was released, but felt I needed to take a beat. Was I just excited to be writing reviews again. Maybe it was just okay and this was just transference over my anticipation of finding more Canadian Metal to share. Nope. Neither of these hold true. After multiple listens this is a ripper of an album. It has earned my top rating for what it is. A well written, extremely well produced, perfect example of what blackened thrash can and should be. This is the album in this genre that other bands will be measured against for me for the next decade.
Play Until Your Neighbours Call The Cops
