Thin Air and Empty Shadows

I should first come right out and say I am more in touch with the metal scene of New Jersey then that of my homestate of little Rhode Island. I know/discovered several NJ bands (most notably Distorted Mind, Semper Tyrannis, and Divinity Destroyed). I have had the pleasure of seeing Distorted mind a few times, and even playing bass in a cover of Candlemass' "Solitude" and vocals for one of their songs.

Enough about me. After several months of waiting and horrible luck with mixers, and i finally get to hear it (the actual release is a little ways away, for pressing and the like). Thin Air And Empty Shadows: three tracks that will pound with unrelenting but varied doom inspired death metal. The first studio recorded disk by this power trio from southern New Jersey.

Normally I do not like track by track reviews, but since there are only 3 songs on this EP, bare with me.

The CD starts slow, with "A Painting of Winter's Darkness", then immediately hits you with a sort of doomy-thrash riff, a low growl by drummer Ian McCann, and then Will Bozarths diabolic BLEAAAAAARGH. Will has a great range, especially on this song, from low gurgly growls to shrieks that could be compared to a less annoying Dani Filth. The lyrics are also pretty good, for this song pointing out the insanity of religion. My favorite line is "tearing the mother from the child's arms!" The riff that starts at about 2:25 slaughters the listener. This song gets slower, with a very heavy beat. It will make you bang your head. at about 5:54 the song picks up again and we are shown the drumming abilities of Ian McCann with some furious double bassing. My only complaint on this song is that the last riff repeats a little more than necessary, but not horribly so.

My favorite track of the CD, “Frozen Reflections” is second. To sum up the beginning of this song: DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! The slow melancholy intro mixed with Will’s growl is quite effective, then BAM. They hit you with the full out death metal assault. And if you do not headbang as a result, you are not metal. Heavy as a ton of bricks in your face. This song made me want to get up in my room and mosh with my furniture and at the same time doom dance in the style of Messiah Marcolin. Worthy of notice is a little bit Deicide-ish layered growls with the help of bassist Bill Schroeder. Speaking of Bill’s vocals, we hear for the first time Distorted Mind’s clean vocal mixed with growls technique that they pull of extremely well. Not to mention theres one hella awesome bass line. I have no complaints whatsoever on this song.

The last track of the CD is a slow doomy song called "Division of Past". The mood of the music and lyrics is somber, but almost hopeful. There is a sense of melancholy, but of resolve, no longer allowing others to guide you. We once again hear the clean vocal abilities of Bill. However, my one complaint is that during one of the Bill on clean vocals/Will on growls, Bill is pretty low on the mix, and I‘d like to . This song is emotional without being whiny, Korn take note. The bass lines in this song are something to notice, there are plenty of good ones. Also, surprisingly we hear Will do some clean vocals in this song, and very nice indeed… the dude can do more then just growl apparently.

This CD is of very high quality. Their combination of fast sometimes thrashing riffs with the slow doomy side creates a very good debut studio effort by this New Jersey band. So overall, my only complaints are a riff or two unnecessarily repeated, and some minor production issues (hey, after 6 or so months, I’m glad its done).

Get this CD. This band should be signed!