BAND OF THE WEEK: Shores Of Null
Some good, old-fashioned, familiar misery.
Sometimes we just need a little familiar comfort, you know? I mean, it’s great to keep striving to find the most envelope-pushing, genre-crushing, out there, wild creative music, but even if you keep that pathfinding spirit in your music tastes, at some point in your day you will inevitably feel like digging out that old favourite, that ancient friend that you can sing all the words while you’re doing the dishes or fiddling with work spreadsheets or whatever, without even thinking about it. It’s the same for new bands too, not everything has to be so cutting edge that your ears will bleed halfway through the first song. It’s okay to sound familiar, it’s okay to reference classic bands from yesterday, just as long as you do it right, that you put passion into it, and that your own personality still shines through in there somewhere.
So, welcome back, Shores Of Null, with their fourth album in ten years of existence. Say, what did you get from that song? Katatonia, maybe, for those infinity-gazing guitar lines? Fall Of The Leafe, maybe, if you followed the Finnish dark metal scene with a particularly good ear and you still terribly miss Tuomas Tuominen’s clean vocal brilliance? Amorphis, for the sort of oblique use of melodies? Even My Dying Bride for the great use of the clean/rough vocal duality at a certain point (something which is much more noticeable in other songs of the album, but still)? Or perhaps a tad of Alice In Chains, something that was always present in this band due to their marvellous use of harmonies? Whatever it was, it was something that made you feel right at home, wasn’t it? Even if you’ve never heard Shores Of Null before. That’s a virtue in this case, mind you. Because you know what you also heard? You heard Shores Of Null. You heard Raffaele Colace and Gabriele Giaccari’s dueling talent in the guitars, you heard Davide Straccione’s remarkable vocal talent - and the return of his growls, which is very much welcome - and you heard a take on the legacy of all those classic bands, and more, that no one else does quite like it. Hey, it’s just macaroni and cheese and milk and butter all the same, but your mom’s mac and cheese is better than anyone else’s, isn’t it?
So that’s what Shores Of Null’s new album, ‘The Loss Of Beauty’, which is out today via Spikerot Records, is all about. Familiarity, doing things right and not shying away from the good kind of tradition. It’s music that feels comfortable, you’ll get into it straight away if you were ever into any of the bands mentioned above or any kind of doom metal of the 90s, but it will still have plenty to offer as a new album. Lots of variety, weight, raw emotions, evocative lyrics, a death/black metal kind of occasional rage that its predecessor ‘Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying)’ lacked a bit, and even some proper good taste in the handling of instrumental interludes - halfway point ‘The First Son’ is an incredibly beautiful piano and cello-led piece that puts to shame most of the wimpy filler that is usually employed by bands for these things.
So go on, dive in without fear. It’ll be like a warm blanket wrapped around you and a hot cup of tea getting you all ready to welcome spring.
Find Shores Of Null on Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
