New era for Shores of Null.
Although they released a live album and a split with Convocation last year, the Italian band led by Davide Straccione (vocals, Corvin, Zippo), Raffaele Colace (guitar/vocals), Gabriele Giaccari (guitar/vocals, The Foreshadowing, ex-Mantra, ex-The Orange Man Theory), Matteo Capozucca (bass), and Emiliano Cantiano (drums, Requiem’s Embrace, Ivory Moon) signed with Dusktone in 2026 for the release of their fifth album, Homesick.
The band’s intense melancholy resurfaces right from Allies Before Defeat, quickly joined by Davide’s recognizable and striking voice, mostly clean, at times sporting that cold Gothic touch, but also accompanied by a few screams to better explore the diversity of the desolate landscape the band exposes us to. It’s easy to let yourself be lulled by its gentleness despite a few heavier or more intense passages, then Two Mountains suddenly takes over, letting the vocalist tell us about one of the legends of his native region – the mountains of Abruzzo – and although I’m surprised by the theme, the composition perfectly captures that heart-wrenching feeling. The contrast between the vocals is perfectly balanced, just as on Bleed to Life, where the sound becomes even darker and heavier, looming beneath the ethereal harmonies that add a touch of intoxicating softness, especially on the choruses, while the title track Homesick offers a slightly more post-rock feel in its stripped-down intro. Doom Metal’s coldness and heaviness quickly return to haunt us as the melodies float through our minds, letting us drift along until Son of the Tide, which in turn envelops us with a much more energetic approach – judging by the torrent of double kick that greets us – though it eventually subsides. The atmosphere remains tense, the screams grow increasingly prominent, and it is ultimately Dreaming of a Scar that brings us back to softer tones with Shaun MacGowan’s (My Dying Bride) violin, maintaining a sense of tranquility with ethereal sounds that contrast with the violence and depth of the vocals. The quintet picks up the pace again with Society is the Murderer, which offers both a catchy foundation and a duet between vocals and harmonics that blend effortlessly, veering ever closer to Gothic Metal, and then with The Numbing Void, where we rediscover a majestic sound that will remind the most nostalgic fans of the band’s early days. As the five musicians craft one of the album’s most suffocating sounds, they welcome Natalie Koskinen (Shape of Despair, The Abbey) and, once again Shaun MacGowan, bringing impressive diversity whether through the former’s enchanting voice or the latter’s hypnotic violin, and I can say with certainty that the collaboration is flawless from start to finish. The acceleration of Another Breath will take us all by surprise (myself included), but the band brilliantly succeeds in injecting this visceral intensity into an impressive Doom sound, tinging it with furious melodic death metal before returning to a softer tone for Disappear, their final, slightly longer track, where the musicians revert to a more familiar rhythm – yet one that remains just as haunting – to close out the album with a few surprises nonetheless.
I’ve known Shores of Null for nearly ten years now, and each of their albums still moves me in its own way. I had every confidence in Homesick, but the band has grown even further in my eyes and now offers greater diversity while remaining true to its melancholic roots.
95/100