Finnish funeral doom icons SHAPE OF DESPAIR return from the wintry Nordic gloom on their new album, "Return to the Void." "The Finns have never been or found the need to be prolific, however. The race into the cold darkness is a contemplatively unhurried task. "Return to the Void" is musically and thematically that same journey, one of perpetual solitude and aching hopelessness, driven straight into the heart of frigid twilight. As ever, this is cheerless music for sunless days." The album contains six tracks.

The title track leads off the album. The opening riff is slow, solemn and sad, amidst deadly low guttural vocals. Clean vocal harmonies come in, reinforcing your feeling of being blue. The sound continues, pressing you deeper and deeper into your grey world, until a long fade-out at the end. "Dissolution" begins with another lumbering riff and some background ambiance. Some early melodies are built here as well, in layers that you can peel like an onion. The guttural vocals sound like they are coming from a massive creature buried in a cave in the side of the mountain, slowly dying. The clean harmonies are just as desolate, but the harsh vocals return with a pounding vengeance, reminding you of your inadequacies.

"Solitary Downfall" is much of the same. Desolate, frigid and burning winds freeze the skin from your body, and as you lift your head, you only see white snow and a frozen tundra for as far as the eye can see. The solitary lead notes do little to help your desperation...you are going to die here. The pain lessens somewhat close to the half-way mark, with some lighter tones, but the steady drums hurt with every beat. "Reflection in Slow Time" begins with clean female vocals that seem to taunt the listener. The harsh riff and vocals come in and cover the song in hopelessness. It slows around the half-way mark with some more female vocals, but you won't like this exercise in reflection, for it will show your soul as a black stain on your fellow man.

"Forfeit" begins with dark and ominous tones and a riff that isn't quite as desolate as the others on the album. Delicate melodies are sprinkled within, giving you some hope, if only for a fleeting moment. Harsh vocals mix with cleans, creating a tug and pull on your heart. You know who is winning here however. Clean guitars come in at the half-way mark, and you swear you see some light off in the distance. But as soon as it appears, it is shrouded in darkness. "The Inner Desolation" closes the album. Harsh vocals blot out the sun. The sound drops to ambient tones close to the half-way mark, giving you a brief reprieve. The sound returns with even more hopelessness, and the clean vocals sound more like desperate wails from a person who is about to totally give up on life.

Talk about "cheerless music for sunless days;" that only hits the tip of the iceberg here. The vocals are as guttural as anything that I have ever heard. Sweet but deadly melodies are also built, teasing you with their seemingly benign tones, but they are wolves in sheep's clothing. This music is as desolate and hopeless as your worst fears. It's as if you are living a nightmare of pain, eternally, never to be free of it.