Retro-review: Shape of Despair – Monotony Fields

Pegah

Sometimes a bond forms between you and an album that feels utterly singular—something that can’t be replicated, only forged through endless replays of the same tracks. For me, Monotony Fields became exactly that: one of the most influential records in guiding me toward the realm of Funeral Doom. The summer of 2016 was steeped in the soundscapes Shape of Despair summoned from the depths of darkness, and even now, each listen evokes emotions that their later work has never been able to recreate.

“Reaching the Innermost” is an entirely fitting title because it captures exactly what I feel while listening to this track. As the vocals echo in my ears, they awaken emotions I had long buried in my heart—feelings once forgotten, now stirred with every word uttered. Each listen feels like a return to myself, pulling me away from the chaos of the outside world and guiding me inward, so deeply that it feels impossible to escape. The title track, “Monotony Fields”, continues in that same vein, sustaining the inward journey with its suffocating atmosphere, until “Descending Inner Night,” comes with its relentless pulse and the haunting line “Years of breathing, this consuming black sphere that surrounds me”, that feels like being pushed into the void of a cruel world—one you are forced to endure. In contrast, “The Distant Dream of Life”, my favorite track from the very beginning, one that tears me apart each time I hear it, only to put the pieces back together again. Unlike anything else I’ve encountered, it carries a strange sense of hope—like being plunged into cold water, shocking yet vital, reminding me that I’m still alive even in my saddest moments.

But “Withdrawn” shifts the mood once more—from a fragile sense of hope back into hopelessness, reflecting the way I often feel these days. Listening to it, I find myself wishing I could withdraw from reality, escape into the void, and let silence surround me. “Longing” is where grief and yearning are inseparable, feels like carrying a pain for a long time that becomes a part of yourself—but still holding onto a fragile thread of desire, even if it can never be fulfilled. “The Blank Journey” feels like a departure with no return—a final letting go. To me, it plays like the abstract of the entire album, gathering all its themes into one vast, fading horizon. It carries the weight of questioning existence itself, the pull toward abandoning everything, drifting far away, or simply dissolving into the darkness within. And the closure, “Written in My Scars”, first released in 2010, stands out as one of my favorite tracks. In its renewed form, it seamlessly aligns with the whole atmosphere of the album, amplifying its sense of vast, unrelenting sorrow.

As my final words, Monotony Fields becomes a portrait of monotony in an absurd world—a place where you run endlessly but never arrive, where you yearn yet nothing ever answers. It embodies the suffocating condition of human existence, where longing itself becomes both the wound and the burden. With this album, Shape of Despair captured that feeling at their very best.

Label: Season Of Mist

Release date: June 15, 2015

Website: https://shapeofdespair.bandcamp.com/

Country: Finland

Score: A depressive classic!