Into the Nightmare

Ripping a swath out of Santiago's night sky is Chilean two man duo by dark, simple name of Shadows, with a doubly-sided (i.e. played twice), four-track EP titled Into The Nightmare, released last scorching Summer under Cabalist Records and Sentient Ruin Laboratories.

Like a fool, I threw caution to the four winds and was properly roasted in a coarse, furnace blasting manner. Opener "The Ripper" - possible homage to all things Judas Priest-ly - roughly shuffles and stomps its Bewitcher-meets-Midnight styled brand of effervescent instrumentation, complete with Cristián Silva aka John Shades' phlegm-y, bark stripping howls and harmoniously haywire soloing. Cassette hero "Forgotten Rites" storms out of the not-so-pearly gates to stoic tumble-roll drums of Micheal Mist, while Shades' crankily braised, raging riffage parts quiffs, mullets and man buns alike. Plus, most of its run time features no end of melodically crazed, blackened speed metal leads.

A creepy keyboard delusion incurs through instrumental "Dream Paralysis". Final self-tiled dirge "Into The Nightmare", with its ghoulish backing chants and synthesized mid-tempo mournfulness, brings to chimerical mind a rat salad of old time Mercyful Fate and more recent bat hedger Hell. At just thirteen unlucky minutes, Shadows' fiery baptism ends all too soon!