Inner Monster Out

Personnel: Shadowside (keyboards, programming); Dani Nolden (vocals); Raphael Mattos (guitars); Fredrik Nordström (keyboards, programming); Fabio Buitvidas (drums).
Audio Mixers: Fredrik Nordström ; Henrik Udd.
To those who have been there, the blue collar port city of Santos, Brazil (home to '80s black metal pioneers, Vulcano) may seem like an unlikely birthing place for a sophisticated, progressive-minded metal ensemble such as Shadowside, but the 2011 release of third album, Inner Monster Out, actually marks the group's first decade of activity. Over that period, and no thanks to a string of poorly distributed independent labels, the quartet has
"enjoyed the luxury" of honing their skills in relative seclusion; something which may prove a blessing in disguise once the very confident Inner Monster Out makes a positive first impression with unsuspecting listeners. Mind you, Shadowside will never win the Mercury Prize for spectacular songwriting, nor compete with true proggies like Dream Theater for instrumental supremacy, but tracks like "I'm Your Mind" and "My Disrupted Reality" reveal a well-balanced and surprisingly engaging recipe for tough but melodic, aggressive but refined, ambitious but honest heavy metal values -- quite reflective of Shadowside's hometown, come to think of it. Late entry, "A Smile Upon Death," should have really been served up at the front, as its massive choruses take the band's songwriting to another level, but if the electronic accouterments of "Angel with Horns" -- which recall Lacuna Coil -- set you looking for further similarities between these two female fronted bands, forget it. Shadowside don't do "goth" or nu-metal, or even call undue attention to their leather-lunged frontwoman Dani Nolden, on record, on-stage, or in the press. Instead, from all indications she's just one of the boys, even refraining from showing off her full vocal range, more often than not, then giving Lemmy a run for his rum on a blistering cover of Motörhead's "Ace of Spades." In sum, there's much to like about Shadowside as this release finally manages to let their Inner Monster Out. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia