Born From Shadows - CD

Classic Isole album finally available again on CD! Deep sorrowful Doom Metal! New album coming in March 2023.

We guess by 2023 Isole hardly needs to do anything in order to be considered the third Doom Metal behemoth on Swedish soil after Candlemass and Count Raven. With only masterful Doom Metal opuses in their discography the guys should have been content with the impact they had on the scene enjoying their status as one of the premier Doom Metal providers in the new millennium.

There was hardly any need in changing the formula for “Born from Shadows”. The moment the sorrowful riffs of “The Lake” hit, the fans will instantly know that the guys haven’t misled them, and that this opus is high-octane epic Doom all the way. Faster-paced guitars emerge at some point their dynamic leaps assisted by surprising Death Metal growls before more lyrical deviations sink everything in grief and mourning.

“Black Hours” combines doom with the ballad in a deeply atmospheric, elegiac aura accentuated by the excellent emotional clean vocals; the pace is almost funereal with an overt melancholic vibe as well the latter poignantly present on the following title-track which suddenly moves towards more aggressive ways of expression those bringing the death metal throat to the fore once again. “Come to Me” recalls the My Dying Bride nostalgic dirges with lamentable guitars and more melodic undercurrents until a portion of more bouncy, more vivid rhythms start moving things around not without the help of the great vocal tirades, the most epic composition here with an imposing sombre finale. “My Angel” is an encompassing 10+ minutes saga which relies on the ballad and more melodic embellishments, but the mood instilled is one-of-a-kind although there’s hardly a mid-tempo stroke during its playing time. Sorrow and grief in copious amounts, but it can’t be any other way with one of Doom Metal’s finest “condemning” everyone to mourning with “Condemned” where the Death Metal growler shows up at the beginning to inaugurate a marvelous more energetic hymn with great ship-sinking riffage and a wider array of rhythmic sections the guitars constantly juggling between slow and more dynamic dashes. “When All is Black” is a delightful depressing funeral “march” with the slowest performance on the album, a fitting ending to
this classic Doom masterpiece.

For vintage, seismic retro Doom Metal one shouldn’t look any further than this opus. Doom Metal seems very safe in the hands of these Swedish brethren.