Review Summary: The Shaper conjures up something wicked in his debut album but evil tends to come at a price...
Clayshaper is the melodic death metal project from a Swedish man anonymously named "The Shaper". I discovered this musical endeavor back in 2020 with his debut EP
Celestian which fruitfully combined the atmospheric soundscapes of
Blackwater Park era
Opeth with sweet and savory lead guitar melodies comparable to the likes of [/b]Swallow the Sun[/b]. I was quite impressed by the sense of melody that this album offered, and it scratched that ever-present itch for
Opeth-style prog death. Naturally, my hopes were high that this 17-minute EP was just a small taste of the great accomplishments that were to come from this talented individual; that someday there would be a full-length album that would surpass all that was promised (thank you
Hath) in
Celestian.
Fast forward to today, we finally have
Clayshaper's first full-length album,
Vampiric. This album is darker than
Celestian with a good dose of gothic, occult, and medieval themes surrounding necromancy and vampires. To complement the album's themes, The Shaper introduced a helping of melodic black metal songwriting techniques into the mix similar to
Tribulation to authenticate the evil sound of the album; this sets it apart from
Celestian a good bit while maintaining many of the aforementioned influences.
I had to sit on this review for a little bit and let my thoughts on the music marinate, coming to terms with my mixed emotions with
Vampiric. In honesty, I went into this album with strict expectations and extrapolated an unrealistic conception of
Clayshaper's motivation. I remember thinking to myself: "Wow if this EP is this good imagine what a full length would be like". However, what I have come to terms with is that
Vampiric is a fine album on its own, not amazing, but adequate.
Clayshaper has expanded upon certain musical elements that I was not expecting while showing less care to the aspects of
Celestian that I greatly enjoyed. I would not say that this album has surpassed
Clayshaper's previous material in quality but one can appreciate the experimentation with new styles.
The "Prologue" begins the album with a repeating chord played on a 100-year-old cittra along with distorted guitar reverb, creating an ominous ambiance. This kicks off the highlight of the album, "Town Bell" which germanely starts with church bells, blackened gutturals, and a melodic, yet complex guitar chord which is repeated twice before the guitar solo; the second half jams out with double bass drums and muddied guitar riffs. This introduction does well at conveying a dark archaic atmosphere that emanates through the rest of
Vampiric.
However, the compositions that follow make a disappointingly mixed bag. Songs like "Hex Rite", "Sunrise Cult", or "Barrowborn" have hooks that approach the melodic competency of
Celestian's colorful lead guitar riffs. There are plenty of lead melodeath riffs in most other tracks but for the most part, they are fairly generic and fail to leave an impression on the listener. What seems to be the case is that the songwriting emphasis on
Vampiric is not as much on strong leads as it is on what's going on in the background. The strong incorporation of atmospheric death metal in the rhythm guitar dominates a lot of this album along with dissonant drumming and occasional tremolo guitars; this accentuates the overall sound of the album but leaves much to be desired as far as interesting sections to cling onto. I'm not sure how much conditioning it would take for someone to remember any composition from "Forest Regalia" or "Spirit Linked". The final track is one of the more interesting tracks on the album but its unexpected staccato riffage comes in too little, too late, and fits horrendously with the rest of the album.
While this is not a bad album by any means, unless The Shaper intended this to be a partially atmospheric album, there are too many underdeveloped songs that are difficult to overlook. Nonetheless, if it is evil,
Opethian soundscapes you are looking for (like on
Still Life or
My Arms, Your Hearse for instance) then this will suffice. But those who are looking for
Opeth's progressive song structures, catchy guitar melodies, or compelling dynamics then I would for the most part look elsewhere.
Attribution: https://theprogressivesubway.com/2022/06/01/review-clayshaper-vampiric/
