It’s no secret. Everybody knows that Finland houses an impressive list of great Doom-acts, whether it be within the Traditional / Classic Doom current, the Epic Doom, Doom-Death, Funeral Doom, or the Doom-Doomer-Doomiest Doom one. And one of the best known and, to some, most impressive projects out there is this one, My Shameful. Once again helped out by bass player Twist and German drummer Jürgen Fröhling, Sami (guitars and vocals) wrote and recorded this sixth full length, called Hollow, to prove the strength of the scene from the Land of a Thousand Lakes.
Hollow consists of eight tracks and it goes on in the vein of the past, yet with one important difference: this material sounds even stronger than ever before! These guys’ pounding and heavy mixture of obscure and blackened Doom-Death and grim Funeral Doom convinces whole the time. The dense, perfectly-produced sound strengthens the massiveness of the compositions, and besides, there is quite some variation, fabulous melodies, grandiose grunts, and a nice balance for all instruments. You will find the ‘usual’ tempo-changes and breaks, and the intermezzos, but compared to ‘the grey masses’, this band does not lose itself in catchy or fake-emotional would-be nonsense. No, throughout the whole album, My Shameful make sure that the listener does not lose its interest or attention. Within this genre, one does not need to renew, to be original. What is of importance, is creating memorable tracks, avoiding boredom, and ignoring modern trends. Evoken, Abstract Spirit, Shape Of Despair, Arcana Coelestia, Mournful Congregation, Ahab or Monolithe are some of the best bands within this happily sad genre, and My Shameful shamelessly equals (or even overpowers?) all of them.
No further comment needed – let the Music speak for itself! Bleak, grim, obscure, but also colossal, hammering, powerful; it’s just a small selection of impressions…