Band : Knights Of The Abyss

Album title : Shades

Label : Ferret Music – Siege Of Amida

Distributor : Plastic Head - Suburban

Release date : 24/06/2008

Release : CD

When drummer Andy Rysdam split from his former band Job For A Cowboy in 2005 he lost little time starting up a new musical project. Guitarists Nick Florence and Cody Brechtel having been a constant since the beginning, initial demoes were recorded with singers Phil Noriega and Mike Manheimer. However, while recording their 2007 debut album Juggernaut (released on the Siege Of Amida Records label) current singer Mannheimer injured his throat (the only track recorded with his vocals was "Hellbent", and is exclusively listenable o the band's MySpace), and Dustin Hadlock (a friend of the band's, who'd already done some guest appearances on some demo tracks) stepped in to record the rest of the album...also touring with the band up to December 2008, when Mannheimer returned to the fold. Returning to the line-up, the bass position was initially taken by JonMichael Campbell (left the band on mutual terms in 2006), then by John Seabury (left after the 2007 Summer tour to pursue other musical projects), and eventually by Aaron Stone (since late 2007). Original singer Phil Noriega was replaced by Mannheimer in 2006, and went on to sing for In The Eyes Of Despair, then for Straight From The Depths. In early 2007 (March 2 nd, to be exact), the Glendale, Arizona based band met with the unfortunate fate of having their trailer (which had all the band's merchandize – over $5000 of t-shirts – and gear – impossible to put a price on that! – in it) stolen.

Around the same time as announcing the return of their singer, the band had already started the writing process for a new album, striving to broaden their horizons with the addition of new influences...and they also were (somewhat) secretive about the possibility that the record might be released through a new label. Something which the band confirmed in early April (as I understand it, Ferret will deal with distribution in the US, and Siege Of Amida will still be responsible for the UK and Europe), at which time it was also revealed that Mannheimer was not quite as recovered as the band had wished him to be. To allow him some extra recovery time (you'll see him fronting the band on tour) ànd because the band didn't want to delay getting the music out to the fans, Dustin Curtis of A Breath Before Surfacing stepped in to perform the album's vocal duties.

Musically, the band was formerly categorized in the Deathcore genre, displaying a guitar technicallitywith several breakdowns compared to the likes of All Shall Perish, Despised Icon,and Job For A Cowboy...but with a definite personal extra flavouring from Grind, and with a singer whom could alternate between the deep growling tones and the higher range of vocals (as "taken" from the skylinepress.net review of Juggernaut posted in a blog on the band's MySpace). The same description still holds for the new album, but with possibly some different undertones. The short album intro "Banished" opens with a spoken word part, and then sees the vocals moving to a Blackened scream, and even before that track seemlessly goes over into the ensuing "A New Darkened Faith" a deep grinding growl overlaps that! That same song (and others on the album) finds the two extreme kinds of vocals overlapping each other frequently so, in other words, unless one of the guys in the band can be convinced into bringing those growls, a lot of the exciting dual vocal delivery will get lost! Which would be a pity, because they carry the "first part" of the album. Starting song N°5 ("Running Out Of Earthly Wealth") the guitarists make their play even more interesting by adding a touch of Progressive Heavy Metal to their technical play. Meaning, quite simply, that they include passages with the guitars playing in a slightly different tone, clear-cut rhythm/lead parts, or even overlapping double lead melodies (something they didn't quite do that much in the first songs, where the guitarists pretty much followed the sàme melody lines). Then comes the absolute surpriser on the album with the short (only 95 seconds) instrumental "Feeling Faint", which sees the bass in the leading role as the guitars are played mostly in the background with an atmospheric tonality which at first resembles a keyboard. Yes, dear readers, the boys from KOTA have accomplished to compose an Ambient track with a Western flavouring which would make Ennio Morricone look back in wonder about its beauty.

Regretfully, that is not one of the songs posted at myspace.com/knightsoftheabyss, but "A New Darkened Faith" (from the "first part" of the album), as well as "Dis Unveiled" and "The Penalty Of The Tyrant" (from that second part) are (as well as the aforementioned Mannheimer version of "Hellbent", a track off one of the band's 2006 demos, and another off the Juggernaut album). Quite sufficient material to let you, the reader, swing either way of liking or disliking what this exhilerating band brings. Granted, "True" Death Metal fans may be somewhat thrown off by the additional influences displayed in the posted songs, but give these guys half a chance by listening through the complete set of the new album at your local record store, and I'm sure you might be charmed into buying the album after all. An advice from my part is to start your listening session at that 5 th track, and only listen to the first songs afterwards! Of course, leading up to the review I've given the album a multitude of listening session, so I don't nééd to use that same trick anymore, and have come to accept those first tracks on the album for being the quite exquisite songs they indeed are! Even after considering the "duality" of the album, I cannot conclude this review in any other way than by adding Shades to that "Best Albums Of 2008" list of mine!

98/100

Tony.