Garden Of Shadows
Oracle Moon

Garden of Shadows describe themselves, although finding definitions for such a complex genre is difficult and one easily risks falling into long-winded and gaudy classifications, as mystic epic black metal. The fact that their metal is literally buried under a mountain of adjectives certainly does not discredit their work.

To better explain this definition, one could say that there's very little black here, the only elements that can be traced back to it are the ethereal and dreamy keyboards, as if they were emerging from the enchanted lunar landscape of the cover.

The rhythmic section, remarkable is Bret's performance on the drums as well as the bass contribution which, although not very apparent, is still decisive (and these are the usual hypocritical phrases said for bassists, at least for those "normal" ones) and the splendid guitar riffs are more reminiscent of a melodic progressive death, halfway between Death and Dark Tranquillity, of superb craftsmanship and, from what I have heard so far, original. The combination of the keyboards with a typically death framework is indeed noteworthy, placing the music somewhere between four genres: black, the progressive death of Chuck Schuldiner regarding odd times and similar intricacies, the grind for the voice, who said Cannibal Corpse?, and why not, even a touch of epic for the engaging melodies, some of “mild” Maidenesque mold.

A band that came to mind while listening to this Oracle Moon are the Cradle of Filth, their fellow countrymen, less symphonic and more direct, even with the lyrics, perfect depictions of poetic and dreamy lunar atmospheres. A track-by-track description is impossible due to their complexity, but this CD will hardly disappoint you.