Day: April 5, 2023

After an album of the depth and evocative power of Beyond The Shores, there was a certain curiosity to see how Shores of Null would follow up a work of a level objectively difficult to match. In doing this, the Roman band offers a series of tracks that are, in some ways, antithetical in atmosphere to the dramatic monotrack with traits often close to funeral doom, whose oppressive potential was amplified by the combination with the images of a magnificent video destined to remain etched in the memory; with The Loss of Beauty there is an opening towards a doom decidedly less gloomy and alternative shades, enhanced by the vocal performance of Davide Straccione, who proves to be increasingly versatile and capable of giving his best with clean vocals. Even though all this would make one think of a clear change of direction, in reality the tracks presented should have been part of the album following Black Drapes for Tomorrow (2017), only to be subsequently frozen to make way for the darkness of Beyond The Shores, triggered by the estrangement and disorientation coinciding with the pandemic period; in this sense, the arrival at these partially more accessible but equally involving sounds appears less surprising and more logical. The Loss of Beauty is the album that, if there was any need, consecrates Shores of Null precisely because they prove that they can express themselves at the highest levels both through the mournful scores of the previous album and by developing with equally overwhelming results the peculiar and personal sound put on display since the first two full lengths released in the past decade.

2023 – Spikerot Records