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Band: The Flatfield
Album title: The Shadow Self
Release date: 26 August 2022
Label: Bat-Cave Productions
Genre: Post-Punk, Gothic Rock
Tracklist:
01. Blood Red Room
02. This Storm
03. Unquiet Graves
04. In Vain
05. Absinthe Muse
06. Visitation
07. Séance
08. Dark
09. The Night
10. Nemesis
Post-punk, gothic rock, darkwave and alternative rock often got mixed, and Helsinki (Finland) based band The Flatfield is no exception. Not a thing that devoted goth fans appreciate, but it seems this has recently become a standard in this scene. The third full-length of the band, which was formed back in 2011 by vocalist Ville Gray and guitarist Jay Ravine, is their most mature, yet at the same time it's the coldest one. It cherishes the post-punk tradition, especially the one set long ago by Joy Division and Bauhaus (I guess the name must derive from the legendary album In The Flat Field). After all, the "true" goth insertions make the things darker than it'll be otherwise.
Following the albums, Passionless (2014) and Manie Sans Délire (2017), The Shadow Self offers ten tracks, most of them are cold and concise. I'm sure, The Shadow Self is an album that gets a lot of praise in the scene, but even if well done and produced, it's missing something. I believe that bands playing such a genre find it hard to offer something refreshing or new, maybe it's not their intention to do so, and they want to stick with the tradition. The same goes for The Flatfield - they don't offer anything truly new, even if Ville's cold, raspy and deep vocals are not your typical thing, and occasionally Jay's psychedelic guitar riffs sound pretty interesting, the compositions and the overall impression is a bit too mellow.
The album still holds a lot of good things. The music is quite complex, often driving, with technical drumming and nice gloomy synths in the background. Some of the albums highlights, the goth rock pieces "In Vain" or "Séance", have an intriguing, haunting and captivating darkwave mood with sparkly synths, deep reverberate bass lines, heavy guitars, and amazing deep baritone vocals. Most songs are powerful, often with a psychedelic twist like the 80s-inspired racket "Absinthe Muse". Still, I can't help myself, but Joy Division, Bauhaus, The Cure, Mephisto Walz, The Damned and Christian Death too often comes to my mind when listening to The Shadow Self.
Well, the roots of the band members must be as well in the punk-rock scene. I mean, listen to the volatile yet angry typical dark-punk tracks like "Dark" or the heavy pulsating "The Night" with fantastic raspy vocals. Well, I was expecting something turbulent at the end of the album, and there is the deep melancholic and moody stand-out track "Nemesis" with a moving male/female vocal duet.
The Shadow Self is a great and mesmerizing album, it's not memorable to say at least, but still one of the best releases inside the post-punk/goth scene in 2022. It has a lot of qualities, but it certainly lacks originality and a certain "geist" to make things even more fascinating. In a way, it's a bit too much generic music for a stellar release. Nevertheless, I'm sure The Flatfield with The Shadow Self will get an even bigger status inside the dark rock scene than they already got with the previous two albums. I'm recommending this album to all of you with a "dark taste" in music who are stuck in the past and eager to hear something well done.
The review was written by Tomaz
Rating: 7/10
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