I Shalt Become - Louisiana Voodoo

Artist: I Shalt Become

Album: Louisiana Voodoo

Label: Inspired Hate Records

Genre: drone, ambient

Release Date: October 29^th 2013

Louisiana Voodoo, by the formerly black metal band I Shalt Become, is the sixth album of this band based in Illinois. I Shalt Become is famous for their typical atmospheric-depressive type of music, which one could hardly call black metal (let alone, metal) anymore.

Filled with neoclassic and minimalist pieces, Louisiana Voodoo sounds more like the soundtrack to a horror movie than a metal album. Strings, piano and harsh vocals dominate the soundscape.

Where on previous records, I Shalt Become kept its ties to black metal, on Louisiana Voodoo the band's mastermind S. Holliman lets it all loose and dives into a world of his own. The problem here is: the listener might look up and not see where Holliman went.

The long passages of melodic-introspective soundscapes might work very well for a horror movie or a film noir, but without the images, something feels missing. The long stretches feel uninspired, and the music slips to the background where it can stay comfortably for a long time.

To sum it all up: where I Shalt Become left the black metal scene to fully devote themselves to atmospheric ambient tracks, they turned into a ghost of themselves. As such, Louisiana Voodoo isn't worth your time or money.