The last album I heard from these Finnish doomsters was 2006’s The Return to Nothing and it was a solid if unspectacular slab of rending, Finnish death/doom, and Descend does not change the formula though it annoyingly flirts with brilliance amid its paint by numbers growling mope.

The recipe is pretty simple for those that have heard the band’s Finnish peers like Terhen, Depressed Mode, Colosseum as well as Mourning Beloveth, Novembers Doom, Saturnus and such; depressive but still artfully aggressive tempo’s with a thick layer of despondency and draining melodies, all wrapped up with subterranean roars and a robust guitar tone. Throw in some layered screams and vocal eclectics and you’ve got an album that tries to break the mold, but rarely does 

Everything is well done, but more often than not it’s not really as captivating as some of their peers. For instance the first two tracks “All Consuming” and “Deity of Retribution” simply went by with barely me noticing and it’s not until the utterly rending, self loathing throes of “This Hate” which imbues a classic My Dying Bride gait and tone in its truly despondent harmonies and hints at the band’s potential above and beyond a loping doom/death band. “Of Haunting” keeps up the above average quality with a menacing crunch before but “Kill the Emptiness” drags the album back down into mediocrity with its wandering acoustics.

Luckily standout “Unrepentant” delivers a wilting intro and melody line that straight from Norway’s Funeral with its tear inducing underlying harmony and surprisingly blast beat climax. However, the wandering “Self Abuse” ends the album with a meandering mope indicating that My Shameful is not quite ready for elite status, but based on a couple of moments here, they are close and certainly worth a listen more the more hopeless among you.  

Still, I’d go with Mourning Beloveth’s A Disease For the Ages for a far better example of the genre.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments