Napalm/Sound Pollution
A good deal of DRACONIAN is present in SHADOWGARDEN; Johan Ericsson and Andreas Hindenäs formed the band. Also present are drummer Jenny Torstensson and vocalist Lisa Johansson. Gothic rock with seriously groovy refrains are on the menu.
Dissonant sounds and acoustic guitar opens ”Shadowplay” and the vocals feel right directly. The pace is good and contains a lot of muffled melancholia. Lisa sings “With Love and a Bullet” giving it a good punch as well as typical female gothic. They add a dimension with a short stop in the oddly named “Sorrow´s Kitchen”, and the refrain is fine. They succeed in producing rock, goth, juicy riffs and solid refrains, combined with, for the genre, unusually excellent melodic patterns. They build the songs towards sticky refrains and finish off with the bombastic “Slowmotion Apocalypse”, an epic with growls and a great riff. I am not being shy, this is one of the best albums in 2010, barely missing out on my top 10 list. This album shows qualities that will put them on my list in 2011, 2012?
Track List
Shadowplay
Last Summer
With Love and a Bullet
The withering of Mine
Sorrow´s Kitchen
140 AM
Murky Waters
Way Down Low
Empty Days
Slowmotion Apocalypse
www.napalmrecords.com www.myspace.com/shadowgardenmusic
