A self-released cd-r by a one-man project from Sint-Petersburg. It contains 40 minutes of neo-folkish music. Shadegrown offers his listeners clear melodies, acoustic guitars, serious vocals, some synthetic orchestration, melancholic moods.
“Under the banner of emptiness” leaves a sympathetic, honest impression and the songs are not unpleasant. But Shadegrown also has to improve quite a bit. The weakest point are the vocals, which sound too dull and not very confident. Futhermore the compositions are too monotonous and not very adventurous.
His most succeeded work is probably the last song, the almost cheerful ‘Eternal travel’. But by far the best song on this cd is a cover, the Sol Invictus classic ‘Media’. Let’s hope Shadegrown will grow over the course of time and will deliver a surprising album some day.
