To be honest, the 4 year gap between the debut album "Into the Dark Forest..." and "Son of the Shades" must have been like an eternity for Elffor fans in 2002, compared to Eöl's later output interval where he composed 2 to 3 albums per year. But what has happened to Eöl musically since his debut album? Yeah, nothing and everything all at once. From today's perspective we know that dungeon synth is a niche genre for nerds that is basically easy to produce and quick to compose. Accordingly, artists with a high output interval sprout like mushrooms almost every day. Dungeon synth gives every interested musician the chance to express his or her feelings in melodies and make them accessible to a wider audience. Mostly mystified and medieval in its nature, dungeon synth is able to bring an old epic battle to life, or functions as a personal soundtrack for your vacation on Dracula's castle. However, many artists rely on the ambient component of their music, which results in more or less atmospheric fragments being created than completely composed songs. In hindsight, Eöl also walked this narrow line with his debut album, although his compositions represented more than just fragments of an atmosphere that was subjected to a certain concept.

However, "Son of the Shades" as a whole appears to be much more mature and feels more complete than its direct predecessor. In terms of composition, the songs are more varied, appear more homogeneous and radiate their dark aura even more efficiently. While Eöl took us on a night-time hike with "Into the Dark Forest..." through the Basque woods, "Son of the Shades" transports the feeling of having reached Eöl's castle by the break of dawn. The intro "Jaboren basoa" with its choral chants creates an image of vast forests before it leads into the title track, with which Eöl composed something like a dungeon synth hit. This tune is so catchy and inhales great melodies that it actually has a catchy character that I always hum in my everyday life. The biggest innovation that "Son of the Shades" has received is the addition of guitars to the instrumental Elffor sound cosmos, which always play a key role in a few songs. However, it would be too early to talk about black metal or metal itself, because despite the guitars, "Son of the Shades" remains a pure dungeon synth album, even if it is reaching out towards metal. The songs all follow a similar structure, but each song impresses with incredibly melancholic and mystical melodies. For example, clean vocals are used as atmospheric elements in "...of Wolves and Blood" before the song drifts into darker territory. Every song here has been given an arc of suspense with great talent that many dungeon synth artists lack. In contrast, Eöl has true compositional talent from which every song on "Son of the Shades" benefits.

It's noticeable that Eöl must have been listening to a lot of Summoning lately, because the song structures of most of the songs are based on the great Austrian pioneers of epic black metal, who combined dungeon synth with black metal so skillfully that it became something unique and therefore spawned many imitators. However, to accuse Eöl of plagiarism would be unfair and wrong, his unique handwriting is clearly visible. "Into the Dark Forest..." has already hinted at what path the next album would take, and it is not surprising that Eöl approaches the black metal on "Son of the Shades", since the essence of dungeon synth is the black metal aesthetic. The step towards more metal therefore proves to be logical. Songs like the title track, "...of Wolves and Blood", "Infernal Woods" or "The Nocturnal Moon" are clear blueprints of the Summoning recipe and spread the same epicness. There's no denying that half of the album is Summoning worship in its purest form. On the other hand, songs like "Ravensong", "Long Winter Days", and the closer "Unholy Gleam" are pure folk-influenced dungeon synth tracks. One could accuse the album of having two hearts beating in its chest and failing to reconcile the duality, but that would only be half the story. It seems uniform in its entirety, the atmosphere is engaging and dense and the flow of the album is smooth like silk. Ultimately, it's actually one of my favorite dungeon synth albums. It's a classic of the genre that few albums can compete with. Truly magical!