Artist: Shadows
Country: Chile
Label: Sentient Ruin Laboratories
Formats: LP / Cassette / CD
Year: 2023
Sentient Ruin has struck some pure gold here. Shadows hails from Chile, a country with a small but exceptionally high in quality metal scene. This time it’s not Death Metal in the vein of Unaussprechlichen Kulten or Diabolical Messiah, the Black Metal of Hetroertzen or Die Kunst Der Finsternis, Thrash Metal like Apostasy or even Doom Metal like Procession. Shadows serves us Heavy Metal. Pure Heavy Metal that wears its influences proudly on its denim vest: Mercyful Fate.
Not only does Shadows wear these influences proudly, they wear them gloriously. Perhaps not a surprise, since most of the instruments and vocals are performed by John Spades of Apostasy, a band that have been delivering delightful slices of Thrash Metal. Along with Michael Mist on drums, the duo first recorded an EP released in 2021, which is now followed by the debut full-length ‘Out for Blood’. And that album is chockful of banging tracks: grooving, catchy and above all, extremely authentic in sound and atmosphere.
Most of the songs keep to a midpaced tempo, which works extremely well with the rocking chord progressions and subtle background keyboards. Again, vintage Mercyful Fate is dripping all over the formula of the band, from the catchy vocal lines to the tone of the riffs, solos and drums. And these vocals are probably the largest improvement from the earlier EP of Shadows to the full-length, moving from gruffier Thrashier vocals to cleaner smoother Heavy Metal singing. The vocals aren’t nearly as high in register as the mighty King Diamond though, instead opting more for the mid high. With that, there is a clear overlap with the band Ghost on their ‘Elizabeth’ 7” EP. No matter what you think of the direction Ghost took, their first EP is in my opinion a gem of a release that obviously also strongly worshipped Mercyful Fate. While Ghost went on channel their distinct sense of catchiness in an increasingly poppy direction, Shadows also has that catchiness but sticks strictly to the Heavy Metal formula of Mercyful Fate and perhaps vintage Ozzy.
A track like ‘Forgotten Rites’ is just sensational in its uptempo rocking heaviness and laden with ripping solos. The slightly off-rhythmic approach keep the song from sounding rehashed, and instead sounds both incredibly familiar yet fully rejuvenating. The catchy vocal lines of ‘Nightstalker’, ‘Sacrifice’ and in particular the fantastic ‘Into the Nightmare’ will haunt you like demons whispering in your ear. And in songs like ‘Maniac’ it makes you think what would have happened if Ghost had stuck much closer to their Heavy Metal roots, only to realize what a blessing it is that Shadows decided to go this route.
Of course Shadows aren’t on the same level of the legendary Danish band. But with the last Mercyful Fate years behind us, albums like ‘Out For Blood’ are more than “good enough for now”, they are downright on a “Mercyful Fate had better put their best effort into it if they ever are to release something new” level. A phenomenal record in a Heavy Metal scene that’s thriving, from one of the most interesting countries in Metal… Damn you Chile, you guys are amazing.
