I am not very familiar with the Estonian scene, so the debut full length from atmospheric Black Metallers THOU SHELL OF DEATH was a nice surprise to review a band from that area. But speaking of Black Metal would be too limitating, as these three musicians play a doomed variation of the Black Metal theme, KATATONIA would be a good comparison when it comes to speed, but of course not in the style. THOU SHELL OF DEATH play an orchestral, keyboards driven variation of Doom / Black Metal – with keyboards, sounding like an churchesque electronic organ. The rhythm guitars often bring back memories of old MY DYING BRIDE or a spaced version of ANATHEMA. The gloomy sound of the guitars and the atmospheric dark keyboards take you on a strange journey to a dark and scary cold place. Howled Black Metal screams and echoing growls fulfill the dark musical trip. Sometimes the keyboards even sound futuristic or played by a ghost, very strange but blood freezing. Mixed with Ingwar’s howls, it really frightens the listener. All five songs have a length over eight minutes or longer and calling them atmospheric does not mean, they get boring at any time or use any stereotype sounds like a lot of other bands in that genre. The sound is definitely unique as it is difficult to name any other band sounding similar to them, so it is worth, checking them out, if you are into Doom / Black Metal with notes of Gothic / Death. This fine release is available as six-sided digipak limited to 1000 copies only. www.tsod.eu, www.facebook.com/thoushellofdeath, www.talheim-records.at