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The Bleak Picture – Shades of Life Review

By Maddog

It’s been a draining year. Lacking the mental energy for new music, I’ve subsisted on a diet of ISIS and Fvneral Fvkk. Clouded by the doomy stylings of the latter, I decided to make my return to reviewing with dismal death-doom. Despite releasing their debut just last year, Finland’s The Bleak Picture is a project of members of Autumnfall. That said, these two bands sound worlds apart, as their names betray. Abandoning the blackened scenery of Autumnfall, The Bleak Picture paints a bleak picture with melodic death-doom that reeks of Finland. Channeling the icons of sadboi history, Shades of Life is a flawed but worthwhile slab of morose doom.

You won’t find much innovation here, but The Bleak Picture has learned from the best. Blending harsh vocals and spoken word, doomy plains and deathy mountain ranges, Shades of Life consists of familiar elements. The opener “Plagued by Sorrow” offers the listener zero seconds of respite before launching into a persistent doom riff. Melodic guitar leads steer the album along, stitching the doomy cuts together in a manner that recalls Enshine (“Without the I”). Rather than slowing to a standstill, The Bleak Picture uses Insomnium riffs to push the album along without diluting its sorrow. The guitars (handled by Jussi Hänninen, along with the other instruments) are the core of Shades of Life, but Tero Ruohonen’s vocals broaden its horizons. While he largely dwells in standard harsh territory, Ruohonen’s cleans tinge the album with gothic influences, like the distorted spoken word of “Absolution.” Indeed, sections like the straightforward rock of “Without the I” recall Paradise Lost. However, lest this lengthy description fool you, Shades of Life is largely standard fare.

It feels criminal to listen to Shades of Life on a 90-degree summer day. The Bleak Picture conveys emotion through the sheer enormity of their riffs, burying the listener like an avalanche (“Absolution”). Elsewhere, Shades of Life deftly intersperses these assaults with tranquility, like the transition from an explosive chorus to minimalist bass-led instrumentals on “Plagued by Sorrow.” These strengths reach their apex on the 11-minute spectacle “Silent Exit.” Evoking Swallow the Sun’s Plague of Butterflies, the track progresses through a nightmarish acoustic melody, forceful doom riffs, and girthy bass lines. Cult of Luna-style drumming leads the song into a climactic ending that raises the bar even further. Across these highlights, The Bleak Picture’s sophomore release boasts a mature approach to songwriting.

Shades of Life still struggles to transcend its melodic death-doom formula. The album’s biggest weakness is its monotony. In their quest for chunky riffs, The Bleak Picture tends to overuse ideas, emulating an uninspired version of Rapture (“Code of Ethics”). Even the album’s best pieces sometimes fizzle out, like the abrupt ending of the otherwise-powerful “Absolution.” Similarly, while the penultimate track “Silent Exit” showcases the best of Shades of Life, the closer “City of Ghosts” settles into a low-energy doom routine that never picks up steam. Despite its apparent variety of influences, The Bleak Picture’s by-the-book approach to death-doom doesn’t always keep my interest.

An album like Shades of Life is difficult to dissect; its success hinges on the heart, not the brain. The Bleak Picture is on the right path, and tracks like “Silent Exit” hit hard with their bulky riffwork and creative variety. But as a whole, Shades of Life isn’t the gut punch I’d hoped for. It doesn’t match the raw power of Paradise Lost, the otherworldly sadness of Enshine, or the narrative prowess of Insomnium. Still, I have no regrets. There are strong whiffs of talent here, and with its mature and tempered approach to songwriting, Shades of Life is an easy, rewarding listen. It’s worth a shot for anyone who prefers moping over sunlight.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Ardua Music
Websites: thebleakpicture.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/thebleakpicture
Releases Worldwide: June 27th, 2025

#25 #2025 #ArduaMusic #Autumnfall #CultOfLuna #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #DeathDoomMetal #DoomDeath #DoomDeathMetal #DoomMetal #Enshine #FinnishMetal #Gothic #GothicDoom #GothicMetal #GothicRock #Insomnium #Jun25 #Melodeath #MelodeathMetal #MelodicDeathDoom #MelodicDeathMetal #ParadiseLost #Rapture #Review #Reviews #ShadesOfLife #SwallowTheSun #TheBleakPicture

CESTODE / SENSU STRICTO / HELLZEL // August 22, 2025 // K19 Berlin

K19, Friday, August 22 at 07:00 PM GMT+2

CESTODE
//Sludge/Leipzig
vaultofheaven.bandcamp.com/album/flesh

SENSU STRICTO
//Old School Death/Leipzig
sensustricto.bandcamp.com

HELLZEL
//Doom/Berlin
hellzel.bandcamp.com

August 22, 2025
//Doors 7:00pm
//Noise 7:30pm
K19/Berlin

berlin.askapunk.de/event/cesto

Décryptal – Simulacre Review

By El Cuervo

Québec has long been a region synonymous with uncompromising death metal, with stacks of excellent bands bleeding from its fertile cemetery grounds. Débutants Décryptal emerge from said land, unveiling their first full-length entitled Simulacre after just one prior demo. This release arrives with the promise of a sound steeped in French Canada’s murky traditions, plundering tombs and raiding caverns alike. But in a scene so replete with bands treading the same territory, is Simulacre able to carve out its own grave?

Simulacre fits neatly – if powerfully – into the cavernous style of death metal, exemplifying the new school of the old school. In this way, Décryptal strongly recall Phrenelith. Everything about the album is bruising. From the burly guitar grooves to the battering drums, to the guttural growls, to the meaty production, it feels like proper death metal. It prioritizes fat rhythms above shredding melodies, with the chunky guitars, bass, and drums offering a thunderous accompaniment to everything that happens. And even if the riffs and performances already conveyed the sense of a pungent vaulted cave system, the production wraps all this into something pitch-black and haunting. I love how the rounded drums, thumping bass, and jagged guitar edges create a void of hope.

Besides the album’s overall aesthetic and the atmospheric production, it’s hard to argue that Simulacre’s strongest quality isn’t its guitar leads. The release is stuffed full of undeniable riffs. My highlight is the passage from 3:20 on “Horde d’Invertébrés” or “Dendrites.” I’m unclear which, because these two tracks are the same on my review copy, leaving me to assume that there’s also a corresponding track missing. In either case, the riff checks every box I want a death metal riff to check: groovy, meaty, driving, and headbangable. The guy who wrote it deserves to dine out on its quality for a substantial period. Likewise, the lead that commences at 1:10 on “Flétrissement” offers a compelling blend of bludgeoning brutality and scything sharpness. Though Décryptal like to smash more than they like to slice, they’re capable of swapping their hammers for knives when the situation demands it. And while things never descend into Incantation death/doom territory, the band also enjoys slowing the tempo into passages with thick, doomy leads (“Zisurru,” for example).

You may question where Simulacre falters. The songs are consistently good, but also feel like they are constituted from various great riffs haphazardly arranged. Décryptal don’t sound as if they were especially focused on meaningful, coherent song construction. You can hit play from anywhere throughout and immediately have fun, but you could also switch around many passages without feeling like much has changed. This undermines the album as a unique art form, intended as a deliberate arrangement of songs in a particular order. This is compounded by the songwriting, which is robust but predictable. There are no surprises here as everything is exactly what you expect it to be. Variety, or moments of true inspiration, are thin on the ground. Part of this sense that there’s little to truly stand out is that the shredding guitar solos are relatively buried compared with the punchy rhythms. I understand that the band is plumping for a thick, murky tone, but louder solos would help to break up the songs if they were mixed higher.

Dissecting Simulacre exposes a Décryptal that’s already brushing up against the bands that influence them; though it may not be as innovative or exciting as those bands once were, it’s a remarkably good execution of cavern-core death metal. While stylistically brutal, there’s no shortage of technicality; it’s just that the band rightly prioritizes power above showmanship. Simulacre isn’t perfect, but could be the start of a Very Good Thing.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps MP3
Label: Me Saco Un Ojo Records
Websites: decryptal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/decryptal
Releases Worldwide: July 11th, 2025

#2025 #30 #CanadianMetal #DeathMetal #Décryptal #Incantation #Jul25 #Phrenelith #Review #Reviews #Simulacre