''Monotony Fields'' is the fourth studio album by
Finnish funeral doom metal
Funeral doom is a subgenre of death-doom with heavy influence from funeral dirge music. Low- tuned guitars, death growls, instruments that emulate pipe organ sounds and ponderous pace are typical traits of this style.
History
An offshoot of dea ...
band
Shape of Despair
Shape of Despair is a funeral doom band from Finland.
History
The band was founded in 1995 as Raven by Jarno Salomaa (guitars, later also keyboards), Tomi Ullgrén (bass, later guitars) and Toni "Otso" Mäensivu (drums, later vocals). They asp ...
, released on June 15, 2015 by
Season of Mist
Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pa ...
as
CD digipak and
LP.
It is the first album to feature Henri Koivula on lead vocals. The song "Written in My Scars" was first released on the EP ''Written in My Scars'', but was re-recorded for this album.
Musical style
The album continues the atmospheric funeral doom the band has been playing since their first album ''
Shades of...''. It is described as "melancholic and atmospheric", with "morose guitar lines" and "tragic ambient keyboards".
The
death grunts are "masterfully delivered", the female vocals are "gelid" and "angelic".
Track listing
Personnel
Shape of Despair
* Henri Koivula – vocals
* Natalie Koskinen – vocals
*
Jarno Salomaa
Jarno Salomaa, also credited as J.S., is a Finnish musician. He formed the funeral doom metal group Shape of Despair in 1995 under the name Raven (not to be confused with the NWOBHM band, Raven). Salomaa's first role was guitars and synth in Rave ...
– guitars & synth
* Tomi Ullgren – guitars
*
Sami Uusitalo
Sami Antero "Tundra" Uusitalo (born 1977) is a bass guitarist best known from the folk metal band Finntroll and the funeral doom band Shape of Despair. He also plays in the folk/doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal mus ...
– bass
* Samu Ruotsalainen – drums
Production
* Max Kostermaa - producer, engineer, mixing
* Mika Jussila - mastering
* Juha Takalo - band logo
* Mariusz Krystew - cover artwork
References
2015 albums
Shape of Despair albums
Season of Mist albums
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