Shroud of Bereavement
Shroud of Bereavement's music is akin to attending a funeral for everyone you have ever loved. The Boston-based group achieves this moribund feeling by incorporating all the right musical elements: cellos, piano, violin, duo female vocal harmonies layered on top of harsh death vocals played at the pace of mile-long funeral procession. Musical influences ranging from Classical composers such as Mozart and Vivaldi, to Classic metal bands like King Diamond and Candlemass to bands that started the early death/doom movement like My Dying Bride, Anathema and Theatre Of tragedy. providing a blue print for the group to create some of the best doom metal this world has ever heard!
Shroud of Bereavement first began as a solo project of front man, Dan Robinson. In 1999, Robinson released the group’s first recording, "The Forever Dance," which saw some European success, and through trading, caught the attention of the extreme music underground.
2001 saw Robinson creating what he would call his "masterpiece." Although "A Rose for a Dying Muse" would not see the light of day for many years, the song proved a catalyst for Robinson's monster, Shroud of Bereavement. Now, he had the spark he needed to truly make Shroud of Bereavement a band. Robinson gathered musicians from a number of respected bands including MournDrear, December Wolves, Somber Blessings, Dusk Raven, Darkened Soul, Invertia, and In Memorium. This would comprise Shroud's live band, and eventually provide the musical talents for the band’s forthcoming recordings. Also, this gathering of diverse musicians led to the band’s self-labeling its music as "Neo-classical doom metal."
2005 was a monumental year for the group. This year marked Shroud of Bereavement’s first full-length release "...Of Ages." The said album was an accumulation of cult demos that spanned a decade. Oak Knoll—a local label specializing in melodic death metal and doom—released the album.
The group once again acquired the services of Oak Knoll to release "A Maddening Hue" in 2006 as part of a split album with the doom/death metal sounds of Virginia's, Withersoul. Shroud’s portion of the album consisted of two tracks, "...And Their Tears Shall Flood the Earth" and the title track. Both tracks comprised over twenty-five minutes of mystical, mournful, classical-music injected doom metal. "A Maddening Hue" proved a shining moment in Shroud’s career showing the band building on their earlier sound with a more mature recording that more appropriately highlighted the band’s emotional odyssey. Julie Beaulieu and Kelly Ann Sullivan juxtaposed their siren vocals over the gruff death metal growls of Robinson and doomish guitar dirges to create nightmare sound scapes of a surreal nature. The Piano, cello, violin, and acoustic guitar combined with doom/death on "A Maddening Hue" truly made Shroud of Bereavement a leader in the beauty in darkness motive becoming ever-more popular in today’s international metal scene. Online and print magazines such as Metal Maniacs, doom-metal.com, metal-archives, and Metalcentre.com echo the above sentiment.
In 2005 the band paid homage to one of funeral doom’s iconic bands, Skepticism. SOB recorded "Forge" for the Skepticism Tribute album "Entering the Levitation: A Tribute To Skepticism." Rigor Sardonicus, Shape of Despair, and many other respected bands of the genre join SOB on the yet-to-be released album. Poland’s Foreshadow Productions/Red Stream Productions are scheduled to release the album.
In May of 2006, SOB toured across the U.S. with Keen of the Crow (ex-Morgion), Deathgasm Recording artists, Loss, and Godless Rising (ex-Vital Remains). The doom metal-heavy tour was dubbed the Premonitions tour and laid waste a path from Georgia to Wisconsin. After Loss completed its portion of the tour, Shroud and its touring mates made a special stop in Detroit, Michigan for the first-ever Runefest. Once there, the touring entourage shared the stage with some of Michigan’s best talent including black metal assailants Summon and the black thrash attack of Nocturnal Fear
Upon returning from the road, a record deal was in the works. Screaming Ferret Wrecords showed interest, and with the distribution they had to offer, Shroud Of Bereavement finally saw a home for the album "Alone Beside Her." The said album took six years to release, but is now out! “Alone Beside Her” is SOB’s most mature record to date with six tracks at just under an hour in length. The group enlisted the art talents of Eric David Love for the album’s cover art. The band brought the album on the road to the Heathen Crusade 2 in St. Paul MN Where they played with such legendary bands as Mael Mordha, Bal Sagoth, Mane o Garm, Skyforger, Vreid, Slough Feg and many others. Currently The band's latest album Alone Beside Her is being pressed in Europe with full Euro distrobution. An official release date for the Sketicism tribute album is 4th June 2007. SOB has also booked studio time this summer to begin work on their follow up album "A Beautiful Winter". The album will again feature The full 8 member lineup along side Andy Happel on violins and cellos.
Bio written by Darren Cowan
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