Shivered - Existential Mourning (2024)

Unleashing a very melancholic and bleak sounding Gothic Doom Metal release, today we have a one-man outfit from Iran named Shivered. In “Existential Mourning”, Mohammad Maki delivers ten tracks and nearly one hour of music, in the vein of bands like Katatonia, Fall of the Leafe, Shallow the Sun, and similars. If you are a fan of the genre, this is a very good addition to your collection as each track oozes melancholy and sadness, in a brilliant way.

Opening with “Paranoiac”, we get a very bleak mood right out the door with weeping guitars, subtle keyboards and very mournful clean vocals. The clean and harsh vocals are very well interwoven, making songs like “Ashes of Innocence”, “The Lighthouse”, and “Existential Mourning” remind you of older My Dying Bride, but with a heaty dose of Katatonia. We love the balance between the aggressive part with lush and solemn instrumental passages.

With a bigger nod to Gothic Rock/Metal outfits like To/Die/For and similar, tracks like “Pale Painted Black”, “Unending Wait” and “Paradoxical Dread” set a certain old-school vibe. We are suckers for Skepticism-like bleakness, and songs like “Weary Toll of Time” achieve that with a slower and more piercing pace alongside its subtle and dramatic atmospherics.

As the release closes with the demoralizing “As the Sunsets Me”, we are left quite impressed with all the melancholy and craftsmanship behind “Existential Mourning”. There are countless elements from many other bands here, but they are all well integrated into a signature style for Shivered. If you are in the mood for some darkness and to feel sad, this is certainly the release for you.

Label: Self-Released

Release: May 20th, 2024

Genre: Gothic Doom Metal

Country: Iran