Shadowcraft – Principles of Chaos

Having to do a review for band’s demo that I didn’t know before is obviously very difficult for anybody. So, I had to listen the promo cd

2-3 times to make a decent review for the site. Shadowcraft are coming from Thessaloniki and play Black Metal. Having released three previous demos, now are representing the fourth. Because I never heard something for them before, “Principles of Chaos” is naturally my first contact with their music, and this is that I will try to analyze.If you look better to the band members you’ll see at keyboards the participation of Q_Snc, who played for several  metal bands of the Greek scene as “Unholy Ritual”, “Lykaionas”, “Daylight Misery”, “Diabolical Principles” and “Kawir” at their live shows. That’s an extra point for Shadowcraft’s music.

The demo starts with an instrumental song “Aeons passed on” and of course the keyboards dominate here. A very good instrumental song, even if I rarely care about them, with good atmosphere. But it’s quite unusual for a demo or full length album to start with instrumental songs. I think that this prepares the listener for the dark attitude of the demo. Next song is “Principles of Chaos”. From the first time I thought that “Shadowcraft” will play the usual Greek black metal style as many other bands of the same genre, with the classic guitar riffs and drum blastbeats. But this song is pretty close to the Scandinavian black metal style, and they know how to combine their keyboards melodies with the guitar riffs. Sound for me like the two first Dimmu Borgir’s albums, but they don’t copy their music.
Another proοf that they play like Scandinavian black metal bands is “Red moon above the enemy”. The main guitar riffs are written to the first guitar strings, the vocals are very good, and the violin boosts extra points to the dark atmosphere of the song and this is the song that I distinguish from the demo. The fourth and the final song “I bringer of plagues and suffering” follows the steps from the two previous songs. The difference here is that some extras make the song more symphonic.

In conclusion, these guys can make great things if they bow the head and work hard. From the other hand, I’m happy that some Greek black metal bands, as Shadowcraft don’t recycle the music of the old school black metal  or don’t try to play similar music to the first bands of the scene as “Necromantia” and “Thou Art Lord”. Also the production has very good quality for a demo and that helps the listener to value their music. Good job.

Website: http://www.myspace.com/shadowcraftband

Stathis “Sethianus” Ntailianas