Under the suffocating cloak of the black umbra descending upon the wastes the tiring light of humanity fades quick as the eye can trace the horizon as Athens, Greece-based blackened heavy/thrash metal trio SHADOWMASS depict the inevitable collapse from order into chaotic dispersal on this exceptional sophomore full-length album. Still righteously indebted to the classic mid-to-late 80’s thrash metal rhythmic ideal yet made whole by black, death and power metal’s suitable inspiration ‘Wastelands‘ is a fresh point of evolution for these fellowes and one which howls with dark-yet-tuneful inspiration throughout. Though it’d make perfect sense to endlessly praise their work as a hybridized old-meets-new formae in brilliant evolutionary headspace I’d endeavor to recommend this one as a memorable heavy/thrash metal album first and foremost.

Shadowmass formed in 2019 after being active under the name Fadom for roughly a decade, pivoting to darker and frankly more original conception under this new name. With years of work put in already, having even released an LP back in 2014, they were fully prepared for this transition with a well-developed dynamic, a speed metal and classic Bay Area thrash informed version of blackened heavy metal. The speed metal part of this idea was loudest on on their self-titled debut LP (‘Shadowmass‘, 2019) where songs like “Killing” had a sort of early Metal Church-esque trot to their movement with some clear love for Megadeth and such rounding out the experience. Vocalist/guitarist Stam (Suicidal Angels) notably brought both a late 80’s Hetfield style vocal which’d contrasted with the extremity offered by drummer Maelstrom (Dephosphorus, Violent Definition, et al.) on that first album but the black/heavy metal feeling hit more clearly via their follow-up EP (‘Oculus Diaboli‘, 2021) soon after. Though we could consider this second album an inarguable leap ahead in their general concept and original sound that EP was more than foreshadowing: If you end up a fan of ‘Wastelands‘ it’d be worth taking a closer listen to ‘Oculus Diaboli’, too.

With that said opener “Purge and the Savage Preacher” speaks to a new reality, something more extreme yet somehow still entirely traditional in style as the song adds to their familiar late 80’s power-thrash metal intensity via an approach which pings the part of my brain idolizes bands like Pariah (U.K.) and especially the melodic aggression/narrative vocal style of ‘Blaze of Obscurity‘. This time around the riffs are set no less up front in the mix but production values allow for increased layers/fills, an approach which speaks to a certain age of power metal but also eliminates any hesitation from their kinetic black n’ roll (see also: “Visions of Desolation”) meets classic thrash side. They’ve made it all the more clear the potential of this combination within those first ~4-5 minutes though I believe that first impression will almost exclusively catch the thrasher’s ear outright. The remainder of the album will touch upon more extreme elements but for now this piece sets the tone and cadence for what Side A develops.

The major highlight of the full listen for my own taste is “Adrammelech’s Laughter” an impassioned power-thrash piece which is genuinely tuneful, shreds, and manages to bring darker riffcraft into the fold despite the strong focus on Stam‘s quickly evolving vocal talents. Not only is this a fine song but it seamlessly segues into instrumental “Entropy I” and continues to flow into key piece “Into Wastelands” just as well. That thread of three pieces is generally the peaking energy, or, most representative sample to be gleaned from ‘Wastelands‘ up front which finds the band at their most cohesive and coherent offering a big change from the at-times fragmented feeling of their debut.

Side B is no less impressive as Shadowmass lean into longer epics with “Fading (Doom)” and “Thy Will Be Crushed” as opportunities to show off shred-heavy compositions and mix up the pace a bit with slower “epic” movement creeping in. When combined with intro “Entropy II” album closer “Thy Will Be Crushed” finds the band almost beginning to resemble Primordial as their thrash epic is washed along by jets of blackened intensity. One wouldn’t mistake this modus on the last two key songs for the Quorthonian current available to bands Flamekeeper or Triumpher of late but rather a showcase what these folks can do with more drawn-out, ambitiously stated pieces. The point to make is that we do ultimately get tact and well-explored melodic temperament beyond the deluge served in the album’s introductory moments.

There’ve certainly been black metal bands in the past that turned power metal in the 90’s, and a handful who’d created something truly awful trying to fuse the two in the past via symphonic black stylings, but I think Shadowmass‘ rooting in a classics-era power-thrash metal informed ideal taps into a unique form of their own with this latest pass. Is that result going to impress pure black metal fandom or the status quo foundered within black/thrash metal since 1995? Potentially… but I think ‘Wastelands‘ will prove most interesting to folks who are foremost fans of sinister heavy metal and the bruising kick of thrash metal. I’d been impressed with the energetic and tuneful volley of the band from the first listen and I’ve found it worthy of repeat spins in the ~month or so since. A high recommendation.

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