Review Summary: Above Average metalcore mixed with deathcore breakdowns, all with a pinch of melody and technicality. All of this is only to be ruined by its highly repetitive nature
People criticize metalcore for being a genre of generic and boring bands, and yet, some of the genere's most repetitive bands are praised as bright spots in a dull light bulb. In particular, German metalcore bands like Heaven Shall Burn, because although these bands have instrumental ability up the wah zoo, they are repetitive as hell, and repeat all their best parts to the point of insanity. Shades of Dusk essentially mix some of the better ingredients of American and German metalcore, with hints of deathcore in the breakdowns, and melodic death metal in the harsh barking tone of the vocals. Shame is,
Quiescence, Shades of Dusk's second album, fails where most German metalcore does, as it is highly repetitive in nature.
Quiescence, the newest album by Shades of Dusk, shows that the band has tons of potential. The riffs occasionally have an epic edge-of-your-seat feeling and contain a certain melodic property in them that makes them much more accessible to the regular listener. The breakdowns have a heavy influence from the chug chug of deathcore, but unlike that genre, this band actually has a lead guitarist. Although the guitarists aren’t too technical, they occasionally do some cool stuff along with the Heaven Shall Burn/generic metalcore band + melody and chug chug + occasional pinch harmonic. It’s hella entertaining for the first few moments.
That leads into the major problem with the band, however, is that they retain the major detail that most German metalcore bands retain; although instrumentally intelligent and driving, they are also heavily repetitive. The songs are all of the same length, and after about track six you start to notice one thing; all these songs sound similar to each other. Other than the occasional audible bass that gives one songs breakdown a notable 90s death metal feel (“A Tangible Concept to an Abstract Subject”), most songs sound so similar to each other it’s startling. “The Celebration of Vile Procedures” and “Redefining the Boundaries” could be the same song for all I care. They open up with the same riff patterns and both follow through a generic metalcore structure.
Shades of Dusk is nothing really new, it’s just a blend across to cor(e)nrows. Shades of Dusk retain a somewhat unique sound because of this blending, and that’s where
Quiescence succeeds. All this band needs now is a few new songwriting techniques, seeing as the Heaven Shall Burn method clearly is dragging them down. Check this album out if you need a fix for a unique but not far from home sound, but beware, for the songs here sound very to each other, it’s almost unsettleing.
