Style: melodeath/doom (harsh vocals)
Review by: Dylan
Country: US-FL
Release date: 06 April, 2021
Lascaille’s Shroud may be a name that rings your bell if you have read our content for a long time. In fact, it is as old as our original 3 man lineup that carried the blog from its august 2018 to early 2019 editions that consisted of Sam, Jonah, and I. At the time we reviewed their one-track album The Tiger’s Daughter and found ourselves with an ambitious project, consisting of merely one guy (guest appearances excluded) who pulled off a pleasant take on the landscape that is Progressive Death Metal, taking what others did best and adding their own bit of flair to it with sci-fi like synths. Now let’s get this straight out of the way, Othercosmic Divinations II is not an actual follow-up to The Tiger’s Daughter but rather an unreleased predecessor which pre-dates the former’s songwriting process. Which leads to a rather odd way to approach this review; since any potential flaws that are present here may have been fixed in the follow up we reviewed… over 2 years ago!
To the reader’s displeasure, my afore-mentioned concern with reviewing an earlier album proves to be right. This is basically what the band would go out to improve on in The Tiger’s Daughter, but slightly worse. Actually, make it quite a bit worse in my opinion, given the fact that some of the flaws of that record exist here and other virtues in it are non-existent here. The drumming remains rather stale, merely following the guitar along its pace, the sci-fi keys feel a whole lot cheesier in the bad way, and the riffs are mostly insipid. The vocals are the one thing that remain consistent given that our frontman/songwriter does know how to pull of a mean growl. However nearly no variety of said growl for 45 minutes proves to be rather unpleasant at times, given the sheer density of the content shown here. An extra style of harsh vocals (ala Imperial Circus Dead Decadence) or a 70/30 balance of harsh/cleans would’ve taken this release a long way. However this isn’t to say like the album is completely unsalvageable, if anything knowing what came musically after this is what made my wording as harsh as it is. The basic Lascaille’s Shroud blueprint is still here and if you REALLY loved their other releases, you’ll probably get a kick out of this.
Ultimately, Othercosmic Divination II‘s biggest issue is the date of release. Had this come before what we know Lascaille’s Shroud is capable of doing, the sentences written on this review would’ve been very different.
Recommended tracks: What of you there is in me, A Cruel & Quiet Sacrifice II
Recommended for fans of: Omnium Gathering, Dark Tranquility, Mesarthim (for the synths)
Final verdict: 5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Lascaille’s Shroud is:
– Brett Windnagle (All Instruments)
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