GODSEND formed in 1991 in Norway, and have long since split up. Petrichor Records is re-releasing their 1993 album titled "As the Shadows Fall," which contains nine tracks. "Slaydream" leads off the album. Old School Doom is what I hear. The vocals back then were traditionally done by a clean baritone singer, and that is the case here. The riffing is kept pretty simple here, and the guitar solo lacks just a bit. "As the Shadows Fall" is an eight-minute beast, opening with low, drawn out vocals and a slow, hulking riff. Some harmonies join in but this music is even simple than BLACK SABBATH in my opinion. It drags on in this method for much of the song.

"With the Wind Comes the Rain" is a much shorter song, with a little more energy in the riff. The cadence in the vocals however is quite off-putting. It ends with an odd but pleasing little melody. "Autumn Leaves" opens with some melancholy keys that just make you sound sad. The vocals echo the sentiment, sung with a little more life in them than previous tracks. Some harmonized spoken words come into play towards the end. "Spiritual Loneliness" opens with a slow, heavy riff. Harmonized vocals in the verses don't really connect with the music very well. This odd little guitar sequence takes the song to completion.

"Beyond the Mist of Memories" is just under four-minutes in length, and opens with a combination of clean guitar notes and a heavier riff underneath. This combination works quite well. But again, those vocals...just not for me. The clean guitars carry the nice little melody along with some bass notes. "My Lost Love" opens with clean, solemn guitar notes, and some thick bass underneath. It takes a little while before the main riff finally drops. The chord progressions are quite odd here. "Walking the Roads of the Unbeheld" is a short, two-minute jovial track that doesn't sound anything like the other songs on the album. It's the antithesis of Doom Metal, and crackles with both hope and joy.

"Silence of Time" closes the album. It's an over seven-minute beast, opening with low thudding guitar, bass and drum strikes. Spoken word accompanies art first, and as I mentioned before, there is barely enough instrumentation to even call this music. I understand that this album was really beginning the resurgence of the Doom Metal genre, but it is pretty elementary, and even though legendary Dan Swano sings here, the vocals are pretty hard to get through. I'm sure glad I wasn't into the Doom Metal genre in these days, because it has morphed and gotten much, much better. I suppose if you're a fan of monotone vocals and very light instrumentation, you might like this. But it's a hard pass for me.