Shadow
S/T

May 2001
Released: 2001, Spikefarm Records
Rating: 3.7/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

The band´s press release states: "For all the fans of melodic Death Metal a la In Flames, Children of Bodom and Dark Tranquillity...", so how can you go wrong with what was stated on it?! Obviously you can´t - and while you´re listening to Japan´s best metal newcomers, Shadow´s debut CD on the Finnish Spikefarm Records, you can actually realize pretty well how big impact the Scandinavian metal has had on Japanese Heavy Metal fans. Without even knowing that the Shadow - bunch comes from the land of the raising sun, you could so easily go and say something like: "What do we need another In Flames -clone band for?! Or Children of Bodom - or, Dark tranquillity -clone for that matter?



Apparently Shadow divide people in half; for the ones who may ignore them somewhat totally - and the ones who not necessarily get totally blown away by Shadow´s effort for copying the sounds of their obvious "icons(!)", but still may feel lots of sympathy and undivided respect for them by churning out music which comes deep down from these guys hearts as they bring it all out so sincere yet so we-have-nothing-to-hide-man, implanted in their minds, way. You do music primarily for yourself and NOT in the terms of others, right?! Ain´t that something we should respect and show our deepest yet unbiased gratitude for being that honest with yourself only? Mr. "Cain" Cubo and his fellow band mates do what they can do best, I think - playing shamelessly metal that they love and which feels right with them and they shouldn´t be ashamed of their strong Scandinavian metal roots at all!! On the contrary, it warms our Northern people´s hearts and we should even feel a bit flattered due to that fact. Maybe we just should re-write some geography books all over again and add Japan as the sixth country as a part of Scandinavian countries?! Japan´s our distant cousin country which is just far located from the Northern part of the Europe. Sounds cool to me at least, -eh?



"The Arrival at the Last Quarter", "Lunar Eclipse" and "Weep for the Sun" are plain lightning and thundering in the Northern fashion, enticing the listeners with energetic guitar patterns, harmonious and very passionate song structures and overall reminds of all those killer spheres inspired by all the three bands mentioned earlier. Well-played (metal) stuff always receives my sincere attention, so check Shadow out even if they may not kill with originality and don´t prove to be that unique band in a bit oversaturated metal markets these days.