Shrine 1990-1996

 

After having read an article on a metal magazine many years ago, I could only remember that Shrine was a short lived and influential band in the Portuguese metal scene, with only one compilation with all of their body of work compiled into a double cd. Knowing that, when the opportunity presented itself, I acquired said compilation, keeping in mind that I had no idea what it sounded like, and brought it home.

After listening to the whole compilation I fell in love with the sound of Shrine 1990-1996, which encompasses a promo tape, a three song demo and two full length albums. To me it just feels like something that begs to be listened to from beginning to end, with the evolution of the sound of the band clearly shown from the first track, the promo tape, to the second disc which contains the never released second full length, a far cry in quality from the beginning of the band.

In terms of sound, Shrine, were, at their core, a trash metal band, with a tendency to move towards more dark genres like black or death metal, with occasional world music parts in instrumental (later in his career, band leader Luís Simões would join world-electronic music band Blasted Mechanism).

In other words, a record that is best enjoyed as a whole in my opinion, but with high points mostly found in the full length records, specially in “Servants of the Glow”, the second one, which clearly shows Shrine at their highest in terms of song writing and performance, and gives a idea of where they could have continue to evolve sonically if they had continued past 1997.