Shadowgarden – Ashen

Releasedate: 27-08-2010; Label: Napalm Records
By: Sabine van Gameren

Shadowgarden is a Swedish formation that makes Gothic Rock. After releasing a demo in 2007 they now release their debut full length called: “Ashen”.

Seeing who’s in the band might bring you on track of what you can expect. This is a project by the two Draconian guitarists Andreas and Johan. Their session members are also playing in Draconian so they have been confidential with each other. Driving in the music are the guitars which bring us some melodic riffs that are the foundation of the song. Clean vocals come with this album, the male vocals sometimes slightly remembering to Pain. The band brings catchy rock, with a good reference to the gothic scene, but don’t expect it to be very dark. Atmospheric elements are more of a reference that suits them. All in all, the band produces this album with one missing element: a hitsong. None of the songs really stick around and when the album plays again it is hard to remember if you have heard the song before or not. It has the ingredients to grow into something bigger, but this album is not the top of the bill yet. A decent debut, but not eye opening and not really giving the band an own face that says who they are straight away. Nevertheless, it is not a terrible album and show that the band can grow, so we’ll keep them on the watch and follow list!

Line Up:
Andreas Hindenäs – Guitars
Johan Ericson – Guitars

Tracklist: 01. Shadowplay 02. Last Summer 03. With Love and a Bullet 04. The Withering of Mine 05. Sorrow`s Kitchen 06. 1:40 AM 07. Murky Waters 08. Way Down Low 09. Empty Days 10. Slowmotion Apocalypse

Links:
Shadowgarden MySpace