Review Summary: "Decrepit Elegance"
The third decade of the millennium is off to a dismal start, be it the impending environmental apocalypse, a planet-wide pandemic, the slow collapse of capitalism as we know it, or the various other class struggles and tribulations going seemingly unnoticed. What better soundtrack is there to accompany such an unprecedented state of affairs than
A Deeper Shade of Sorrow? Rotting Kingdom’s debut full-length is a 38-minute deluge of sorrow, despair, and riffage that adequately matches the mood of this quarantined world.
“These scars of wisdom, they are my solace and my sword…”
The album opens with an ounce of melody—the very glimmer of hope the woman on the cover holds, waiting for a sailor that will never come home. Jumping from fast death metal passages to slow, doomy cantos creates a sense of uncertainty and unease while the lyrics desperately try to inspire courage in the face of anguish. As the album floats on, the songs get slower, and it is here where Rotting Kingdom’s doom influences take heed. Bleak and ominous guitar leads eclipse the persistent chugging of the rhythm section, while unearthly growls from the bowels of hell begin to lament barren harvests and absolute ruin. As the great Dante Alighieri once said, abandon hope all ye who enter here.
“As rain begins to fall upon this morbid land, the gods laugh…”
After a brief instrumental interlude, Rotting Kingdom adjusts course and heads right into what can only be described as fat, chunky riffs that spare no mercy on their listeners’ necks. As the tempo picks up, the range of the vocals begins to shift. Faster riffs and higher gutturals create a sense of anticipation as the album approaches its figurative mooring. Themes of doom and gloom are replaced by the begrudging acceptance of death, but not without a hint of optimism. Closing with the album’s title track, Rotting Kingdom craft melodic leads that could make Gothenburg blush. The posterior introduction of such seemingly happy riffs provides a sense of closure to
A Deeper Shade of Sorrow, hinting at silver linings—even if only for a moment.
“…I am everything, you are nothing.”
