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SHADOWS
Out For Blood

Sentient Ruin Laboratories (2023)
Rating: 8/10

What a great little 80s throwback album this is. Shadows are a Chilean act that meticulously puts together numerous ingredients to create an atmospheric and authentic sounding album that has all the darkness and fiery aesthetics one would expect from 1986. Out For Blood smirks with a sort of satanic knowhow, but beneath such cocksure grins is a foreboding sneer and sinister leering resulting in an infectious and rich sound that drives hard into the heart of dark nostalgia.

Opening anthem ‘Nightstalker’ drifts with an ethereal quality and develops into a heavier Ghost-like rumble, and that’s not where the Ghost comparison ends; ‘Sacrifice’ and ‘Alissa’ being further examples with their haunting fluidity. Of course, if a Ghost influence is in the midnight mix then you’re also going to hear plenty of King Diamond / Mercyful Fate, as the likes of ‘The Ripper’ attest. Although the vocals are somewhat buried it gives the composition a further air of the obscure, but it’s the bass which runs dominant here.

Out For Blood offers nothing new but it’s a record that drips with all the Gothic majesty of a flickering candelabra on a stormy night. Creaking floorboards, howling winds, phantom footsteps and a rapping on the rain-spattered window pane, the arrival of Shadows is akin to stumbling across one of those novelty haunted house records at a boot fair, except this one comes with extra clanking chains with the bass and a metallic fog.

Neil Arnold

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