North-Spanish duo GRAVEYARD OF SOULS is bound to make some serious ripples throughout the Metal underground with their debut release "Shadows Of Souls". If you’ve been around in the mid 90s when bands like TIAMAT, CEMETARY (Swe), CREMATORY (Ger) and PARADISE LOST were at the top of their game forging melodic Death Metal with Doom and Gothic and releasing genre defining albums, then you should get a very clear picture of what "Shadows Of Life" is all about, because these guys did their homework and recorded an album that can easily fit in among "Clouds", "Shadows Of Life", "Godless Beauty", "…Just Dreaming" and it’ll hold its ground. Now for those who are not really sure what I’m talking about (is there anybody like that?) and all this comparing stuff sounds cryptic, here’s a deal – GRAVEYARD OF SOULS are all about melancholic / dreamy atmospheric Doom / Death Metal with amazing melodies. That means mid-tempo rhythms are weaved around with simple but very catchy riffs, expansive synth melodies broadening the atmosphere even more and raspy sounding vocals which counterbalance the music and adds the element of dynamism. How’s that? Standout tracks include ‘Dreaming Of Some Day To Awake’, ‘Memories Of The Future (We Are)’, ‘Mad World’ (which is actually a cover of the 80s Pop act TEARS FOR FEARS – Frank) and ‘Dead Earth’, although it must be stated that the whole album is very cohesive and should be taken in as a whole piece, it really is so fuckin’ incredible, that I felt like having a trip 20 years into the past when this style was coming into fruition. It is amazing to see how things are coming full circle, first with the old school Swedish Death Metal wave rising again and bringing hundreds new bands doing that style and now we get this, more melodic and melancholic take on the genre. As long is I won’t have to deal with another hundred bands trying to repeat the same stuff, hehe. For now GRAVEYARD OF SOULS made an impact, so let’s see where this will go. Meanwhile, get this amazing album and immerse yourself in deadly melancholiaaaarrrghhh. www.facebook.com/graveyardofsouls, www.fda-records.com