As you can see from the track names you've probably understood what the content of this album is. So here we have another Doom record, with the same depressive and melancholic feeling, which is the content of every Doom release. Unfortunately you will not find many Death growlings, but mostly clear vocals which set a more Goth atmosphere.                  
Forest Of Shadows was founded in Halmstad, Sweden, back in 1997 by Niclas Frohagen (also in Shubend, Doleful Shade, Ningizzia and Genesis Of Pain). Frohagen first debuted Forest Of Shadows initialy as a one man venture, with the 1998 demo recording Under The Dying Sun. Guitarist Johan Svensson would come on board but would leave prior to the next promotional session, The Silent Cry. Frohagen then enrolled Micce Anderson on bass, drums and keyboards cutting a version of Katatonia's Rainroom before pulling together a full band with Martin Claesson on guitar and Tommy Rydberg on drums. However by 2000 both Claesson and Rydberg would be out of the group. The band signed with the Finnish label Firebox Records subsidiary Firedoomn and projected the new album, Departure. Mastering duties were handled by Mika Jussila at Finnvox in Helsinki.
The album has five tracks, each one of them being over ten minutes in length. In every song you will notice the intense depression, melancholy and romanticism. Hearing the whole album you have a feeling that you're listening to the same song over and over again and that really gets on my nerves...but that is a usual phenomenon in most Doom albums. Another bad thing are the clear vocals that make a more Goth image which tragicaly escapes the Death/Doom paths.
The shortest song on the album is the third one, Bleak Dorminion, which is a five minute istrumental, slow song. The fourth song, Open Wound, is my favourite; it begins with a nice melancholic melody, then shapes into a more aggresive song with a few growlings and then comes back to its melancholic pattern. The album ends with the homonymous song, Departure, which has a nice, unexpected part with a Death burst at the end of this song.
- Album Highlights: Open Wound.