Shadows of the Past

Drawing from all veins of its old-school brothers from around the world, Sentenced created a piece of old-school death metal in its glory days that must be listened to. For fans of Dismember, Gorement, Grave, and Death, you just found another holy grail of death metal greatness when discovering Shadows of the Past. It has very few weaknesses to speak of and despite being Finnish, has an edge to it that just screams good ol' Swedish death metal. So if old school is what you seek, you just found the pot at the end of the rainbow.

If you have not gotten your daily dose of evil today, then Shadows of the Past is certainly a recommended listen. It is quite easy to write lyrics that are perverse, as well as use gimmicks to make yourself appear menacing. However, to actually create a mood of evil through the melodies you're playing, is something that is very powerful. The haunting, ominous beginning of "The Truth" opens up with some dissonant a foreboding acoustic parts that will undoubtedly send chills through your veins. The following choir vocals and the electric guitar chords, open up to the surprising and almost frightening screams of Miika Tenkula and the band really starts to groove while Tenkula plays along with a solo similar to those played by Chuck Schuldiner in his later career. The whole song just emits this sinister aura that comes of the album as a whole like steam off a lake. It's almost tangible.

Another aspect here that you can almost feel is how creepily this album sounds like Dismember's Like an Ever Flowing Stream. The chords used by Dismember can be found here, as well as the vice versa. The production here is also freakishly similar in terms of the mixing and the tones chosen for the instruments. The guitars sound exactly the same, and the drum production is nearly identical. This is sound is very characteristic of Swedish death metal groups at the time, as this album, Grave's Into the Grave, and the aforementioned Like An Ever Flowing Stream all sound the same in terms of production. The note and melody choice is all very similar, and Sentenced and these bands are nothing but a drop in the bucket of the groups around at this time doing the exact same thing.

But along with the ability to create an evil atmosphere, what sets this band apart from other European death metal acts at the time is the musical ability of its musicians. At the top of this list is guitarist and monstrous vocalist Miika Tenkula. The man is like a mixed drink of all of the favorable qualities of death metal vocalists and guitarists at the time that this album was released. His solos sound freakishly like Chuck Schuldiner's, and the vocals have a mixture of Schuldiner, Luc Lemay, and even the great John Tardy in terms of power and sheer tenacity. Listen to the choruses of "Under the Suffer," and you'll immediately hear the striking resemblance to Tardy's signature vocal timing with the riffs, that sound like the chorus of Cause of Death-era Obituary.

And as the last somber notes of “Descending Curtain of Death" finally died out, I sat and thought to myself: "That was spectacular," and it truly was. Something about the chords or, maybe it was the vocals that were powerful beyond powerful, or the solos that were quite intense, simply dumbfounded me. I have not heard death metal in a long time that had the same awesome effect on me that Sentenced and their debut, Shadows of the Past did. With the exception of Obituary, and maybe Death, Europe's death metal bands simply had a vibe that their American partners didn't. And Shadows of the Past has a vibe that few bands will be able to obtain.