YOUR SHAPELESS BEAUTY „My Swan Song”

Music: Melodic Doom/Black/(Brutal) Death Metal
Duration: 45:00 minutes (9 songs)
Good songs: The whole varied arsenal of killing tracks

“A pleasant surprise” is how I would call this third record that the band came up with. I haven't heard anything yet, that comes near this extraordinarily original sort of music, it's a strange kind of mix between doom and black metal. Dark, you would say, well not quite. As some band produce dark metal that just floats somewhere in the gap between black and doom metal, this band manages to pick the best of both styles and combine it, so it can't be called dark metal. In the songs, the sadness and melancholy of the melodic doom metal genre are present, as well as the mid paced tempos, dejecting melodies, and typical doom atmospheres. The good thing is that they didn't draw the boringness that some doom metal suffers from into their music. There is also a large black component present, such as the (great) lawnmower-on-gravel parts, typical black vocals (not as fat as I prefer them though) and the faster in some parts. However, there is more going on; clean vocals (male and female) are used for example, that don't sound too juicy, and you can often hear this beautiful violin in the back. The keyboard is definitely not being overused: the band really knows when to leave it.
What is so great about his album is the emotional load added to this record (the doom part). Just take a look at these lyrics:

Down the red mountain
Each day I have to climb,
My eyes stare at you
The perfect sky, so high.
Down the red mountain
I fear to tread,
Close to catharsis
I fall like an autumn leave
Burnt and forgotten
Rivers of fear, I know…
So far from the end
Of this divine monument.
Light has never been,
No sun revealed,
My live never was…
I am not…I see them run,
I only live by their side,
Cyclic storms in my heart
Rage and brew so deeply.
I hate myself so much,
The worst is my pleasure,
I never dream,
Nightmares as my only friends
They surround me,
I am nothing…
I do not deserve to live
My mask won't hide me no more
Life appears to me just like nothing,
Nothing else but an epitaph
Unread by all.
And I drown in this void…
Each day, a new pain
Each day a new death.
The only way to preserve my creation
Is eradication, in a sigh …
No blasphemy, no heaven in sight
Nothingness as a picture of my desires
That I will never, never paint.
The blood that feeds my life
Is not my own
My anaemia is the sign,
I sink…
Down the red mountain
I fear to tread,
Close to catharsis
I fall like a dead leave

How sad and depressing can you get? The music really touches you, something a very select group of bands can do. But what is so special is that this song has, like many others on this album, a strong brutal death influence. Not just musically, but likewise, on this album, death growls are very common. So now we have a doom, black, (brutal) death mix, with some symphonic parts (I'll leave the gothic parts behind, just to keep your minds from being overloaded). I have to make a complement on the drummer too, he absolutely KICKS ASS! The production is also better than the normal underground sound I had expected, it actually sounds even pretty good for a common band. If I have to name bands that might have been influences, I would name Cradle of Filth. Although it has little to do with this music, it might be the band that gets the closest, because most bands cover only one aspect of YSB, as CoF is a very original kind of music itself. I think you will find more similarities between these two bands than between YSB and another band. Don't think it sound like CoF now, because it doesn't, Cradle Of Filth uses very few doom elements in their music as far as I know, it's just a small connection between those bands.

It think said enough about this album; it's very close to being perfect. Very original, melodic yet brutal, emotional yet a little catchy. Therefore, this record fully deserves an ultra-fat NINE.

After a quick look at the website, I saw that the releasing of this album is delayed until March, so you'll have to wait a little longer.

note: 9.0/10

Tracklist

01 Wolves Are Not Yours
02 Mourning of a New Day
03 Song for a Ghost
04 Contempt
05 Of Roaches and Shades
06 The Heretic Side of Wisdom
07 I'll Be Your Shadow God
08 Resistance
09 Sine Sole Nihil