Shields - 'Death & Connection' Album Review

Sean Friswell
5 minutes ago
3 min read

Tracklist

1. This Is Not A Dream

2. Abuser

3. Kill

4. Parasites

5. Lacerate (Feat. Harvey Freeman)

6. Womb

7. Brother’s Lament

8. Red & Green

9. Wolfskin (Feat. Taylor Barber)

10. Loser

11. Death & Connection (Feat. Jonathan Finney)

12. Miss Me

London metal 5 piece Shields return with their sophomore album 'Death & Connection', released 30th January via Long Branch Records eight years after their debut record 'Life In Exile'.

'This Is Not A Dream' is a near 5 minute opener, consisting of a spoken poem monologue over a synth laden soundscape. It's a very interesting opening to the album, with plenty of emotion and aggression, however I feel like it does go on a tad too long.

The first traditional song comes in the form of 'Abuser', which is an all out assault of a track. Aggressive in all respects, it's also incredibly short, clocking in just shut of a minute and a half in length, but still manages to give us a brutal, if brief, breakdown.

Up next is 'Kill', which fuses Doom soundtrack-esque low-tuned riffs and dark synths, Grime rapping and EDM, then screamed vocals followed by an almost disco feel to top it off. I'll give the band props for being adventurous, with some real promise and good riffs, however the song ends up feeling too busy and confused, becoming almost incoherent.

'Parasites' continues the heavy use of synths, but feels more cohesive. There's a good pace to the track, with some brilliant drumming and guitar work on display, however with the more mellow vocals through the majority of the track, the inclusion of a breakdown felt pretty unnecessary (and that's a lot coming from me).

'Lacerate' brings us back into the heavier realm, with a return to the Doom soundtrack infused fast paced deathcore sound that was teased earlier. The frantic guitars and vocals work extremely well, as does the feature from Graphic Nature's Harvey Freeman, with a much more at home breakdown.

'Womb' slows the pace down again, without sacrificing any of the heaviness, in the verses at least. They take on the screamed verse/clean chorus structure, and admittedly it does feel slightly mismatched with how heavy the track gets, especially with the clean vocals over a breakdown. It does have a good amount of emotion to it, and both the screams and cleans are well executed.

Orchestral interlude 'Brother's Lament', which ends with another poem, drenched in vocal effects, leads us into 'Red & Green', a slower ballad that reminds me of the work of Holding Absence, with soaring vocals mixed in with more emotional screams, riffs that both chug and ring out, before things take a turn halfway through into another breakdown, which gives way to another spoken word section, backed by some very solid instrumentation. Again, it's a little incohesive, but I wouldn't say it's too confused.

'Wolfskin' comes next, and is another all out assault of a track, which suits the guest vocalist - Left To Suffer's Taylor Barber - down to a tee (he's been busy lately). It has slightly more cohesion to it, aside from the clean sung section, and again shows of how good their riffs and screams can be, with an excellent rhythm section to boot.

Next comes another interlude, 'Loser', which is entirely reversed and as a result near impossible to decipher, leading in to the penultimate title track 'Death & Connection'. Kicking off with a synth moment and another impressive scream, it is absolutely dominated by blast beats, the guitars almost completely lost underneath that and the black metal-esque vocals, which then morphs into a tech-death vibe before slowing down entirely for a more contemplative instrumental section, which is interrupted by a return to the heavy with a choral-backed breakdown, and an inexplicable operatic section (which I assume is featured vocalist Jonathan Finney?). Once again, a very confused and borderline incoherent journey.

Final track 'Miss Me' slows things right down again, becoming very mellow and subdued, almost relaxing in it's tone, with soft jangly slide guitar and muted drums, although in the back half the drums get flashier, the guitars get chuggier, and the vocals have elements of grit that don't necessarily fit the emotion shown, culminating in recorded crying and a return to the slide guitar for a long outro.

'Death & Connection' is an interesting and ambitious album, to say the least. It verges on the more extreme side of metal and also showcases a soft side, which I applaud. However, combining the two in the same tracks leaves a very mismatched and, as I've said throughout, confused feeling, with the ambition perhaps outweighing the execution in places. A lot of promise shown, but maybe another pass in the writing room next time around to iron things out.