Swiss doom quintet Shever are undoubtedly a band that will split opinion. Outside of the realms of
Neanderthalic observations about the band’s collective gender from the “show us yer tits!” crowd
that still unfortunately haunts the modern metal scene, the band’s slow, sleepy approach to songwriting
may also be dismissed too easily as formulaic.
Shever’s second album Rituals is an exercise in low-fi, low-ended, bludgeoning music. The band rarely
let up from their plodding pace and use an endless amount of both musical and lyrical repetition,
giving each track the feeling of being more a mantra than a song. It is an interesting approach and
definitely creates a hypnotic and dreamy atmosphere around the album.
The album’s first three songs ‘Rituals Of Chaos’, ‘Delirio’ and ‘Je Suis Née’ are perhaps the rawest
sounding of the six tracks on Rituals evoking the crustier punk edge of Gallhammer and the Sabbathesque
melancholia of Monarch! Meanwhile the second half of the album, in the form of ‘Souls
Colliding’, ‘(You Are The) Mirror’ and ‘Tha He Na Te’ makes stronger use of the atmospheric violins
and ritualistic vocal chants for what is undoubtedly a stronger and more engaging style.
Production-wise, the album is rough and ready but makes good use of some bad habits, such as
really forcing the listener to concentrate on the vocals buried deep in the mix. Perhaps the band’s
biggest foible though is insisting on every song being over the seven-minute mark. ‘Delirio’ and ‘Je
Suis Née’ would perhaps benefit from some trimming down to give them more edge. Yet
contrariwise, ‘Souls Colliding’ could have dragged out that violin ending quite happily for a few more
minutes.
On Rituals, Shever present a lot of potential, but on the whole still feel like they could benefit from a
little more time in the studio with someone who really knows the doom craft to bring the best out of
them. The ideas are sound, but the execution still feels a little bit work-in-progress.
Sean M. Palfrey
www.ghostcultmag.com/2012/12/shever-rituals.html