The doom metal industry has a new contender for the top of the heap with this band from the ancient city of Athens, Greece. With a sound that is at home among the Acropolis and the Dionysus Theater, there is a primordial feel to this powerful atmospheric work.
Dark and slow with a meticulous pacing that relays the torment and despair they wish to convey, there is a beauty to this music much like a black rose can show sadness and magnificence at the same time. Mournful and reflective, their use of classical instruments and keyboards along with the downtuned electric guitars gives this CD a gothic majesty that will remind you of an old horror movie set in a castle somewhere in the middle of nothing with darkness approaching and all the evil that comes with the rising of the moon.
Shattered Hope reminds me a lot of the Belgian band The Ethereal. With a musical style that leans as much on classic symphonic as it does doom/funeral metal this band has something that digs deep inside you and stays there. What they call the great tragedies were written many years ago but Shattered Hope shows how one can be done in a modern setting, the world of music. This medium is the perfect release of the torture and agony inside this band.
Lament is a term that I can use about every track on here but "lament, in f# minor" pretty sums up this band. This instrumental shows the capabilities of the Shattered Hope even before the growling death metal vocals of Nick are applied. I have to applaud them for letting the music speak as much as the vocals do. The haunting keyboard work of the only female in the group Eygenia takes this CD to another level. For instance, she completely takes over the song "enlighten the darkness" with a sorrowful and mesmerizing display. Every time she touches the keyboards on this disc something happens that captures the soul. Along with the duel guitars of Thanos and Sakis the combination brings an unreal heaviness and thickness to the overall sound. This music doesn't flow, it oozes!
I don't know if saying I enjoy this album is the right words. The type of music they produce is menacing, tormented and as dark and foreboding as it gets. To enjoy it just does not seem to be the right way to say that this is a musical experience you will not forget. It is a captivating journey that will enthrall you if you have the nerve to make the trip.
Track listing:
1. amidst nocturnal silence
2. vital lie
3. enlighten the darkness
4. yearn
5. a traitor's kiss
6. lament, in f# minor
7. the utter void
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