I’ve not kept up with Shroud of Despondency, I vividly remember their
first album For Eternity Brings No Hope and liking it very much, I
still play it ever now and then. I don’t know why I lost track of
them, if they put out something which didn’t interest me or I simply
forgot about them. This year I stumbled upon their latest album Cull
though and in some ways if feels that not much has changed in 16
years. Production has obviously gotten better but in many ways it’s a
feels similar: the riffing, the drumming and then spoken word passages
from comedians. I usually don’t comment on lyrical content but I as
the many spoken word passages makes it hard to miss. It’s interesting
that they focus on overpopulation when it’s something that by most
measures isn’t a concern anymore. This was something that was worried
about several decades ago but as fertility rates in the developed
world are generally at or below the replacement rate and farming and
food production have gotten more efficient it’s not an issue of huge
concern anymore. Regardless this is a good album, well worth checking
out.
Shroud of Despondency
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