Occult-ish, shamanic (as the title suggests), almost improvisational music, caustic, chaotic and with no real structure, the sounds Thralldom manufacture are rare and unsettling. This album is the prototype to any musical product that's non-immediate or instant, in the sense it deserves much attention and dwelling on its ideas and aesthetics, after which the final verdict could not ever be one of indifference, but one of either extreme annoyance or utter appreciation. This reviewer chooses the latter� Fans of Ordo Tyrannis, Thee Maldoror Collective and other quality outfits of black / industrial / ambient / noise will surely appreciate this one of a kind recording; others will just vehemently hate it and dismiss it as nothing but noise.

Shaman... ostensibly the swan song from Thralldom members Killusion, Jaldagar and the ever mysterious Wolfmaster, is the group�s finest effort, surprisingly steering itself clear of nearly any notion of Black Metal; instead offering a recording that leans mightily on manipulated ambience, whether it�s subliminal skree, atonally warped AM/shortwave transmission, or repetitive motif: fanged metal, Syd Barrett styled guitar somnolence.

Shaman... is received with great ambivalence, marking the end of a band that consistently went against the grain in a genre that pried itself away from nearly any sort of experimentally thematic provocation. Killusion and Wolfmaster will undoubtedly carry on with their main vehicle, Unearthly Trance; even contributing challenging takes on noise and metal ambient with shared and singular foray. Yet, Thralldom�s demise is ultimately disappointing, as the band provided a much needed recourse for those sickened by the lot of Black Metal bands content with picking off the genre�s decaying corpse.