NORTH SEA ECHOES 'How To Cast A Shadow'

NORTH SEA ECHOES
How to Cast a Shadow
Metal Blade Records
https://www.northseaechoes.com

When I first saw the news that a second NORTH SEA ECHOES album was going to be released, I was kind of ecstatic. I really love the first album they put out and knowing there was going to be another one was enough to get me hyped up without hearing anything in the way of new music all by itself.

Then I listened to the song "Enjoy the View" which was the first track previewed ahead of the album's release and really enjoyed that. In fact, when they released a second track, entitled "I'll Leave A Light On", I broke my own rule about listening to only one song before I actually heard the album in full. And again, I really got into that song as well.
In the rest of the lead up to the official release date of 'How To Cast A Shadow' there was an interesting side trip made by NORTH SEA ECHOES. As anyone who's followed the band since the release of the 'Really Good Terrible Things' album in 2024 knows, the group is made up primarily of FATES WARNING singer Ray Alder and guitarist Jim Matheos.

When that band released what is still billed as their final album, they never toured for it. (Damn that pandemic!) So none of the songs on the 'Long Day Good Night' album were ever played live. That changed a little over a month ago (from the time I write this artice in late August 2026) when in the midst of doing press and shooting videos for 'How To Cast A Shadow', they sat down and recorded a live in the studio video of them performing the song "Under the Sun". It was magnificent and was yet another way to hype me up for the new NORTH SEA ECHOES album.

Finally, the album was out and I've been living with it for a month. To the point that I got a reminder that I actually had to write the review of the album for KNAC.

So what did I think of this album in full? Well, let's dive in and see, shall we?

The ten track album opens with the song featuring the longest title on the disc. "A Time of Innocence and Purpose" opens with this weird (but effective) almost bell-like tone before the first guitar strains come through. Then you get the drums pounding their way into the mix as well. And I have to say, the inclusion of real drumming from Dennis Leefang pays immediate dividends because the drums on this song are a big part of what makes it so compelling.

I was reading the advance press release for the album and one of the things that was mentioned is that 'How To Cast A Shadow' is heavier than 'Really Good Terrible Things'. They spotlighted a different track when Ray Alder mentioned that fact, but if you included "A Time of Innocence and Purpose" in that category, you wouldn't be talking out of school. 
The majority of the music is a bit more ethereal sounding but it blends seamlessly with that drum work and with Alder's vocals over the top, I found this to be an incredible track. And look, this is just the opening song for cryin' out loud!
The song "Enjoy The View" is the track Ray Alder was talking about when mentioning the album was heavier. In fact, he said that this particular song was heavier than any of the songs on the debut. 

There's an immediate mood set with the intro but then you get the music breaking out into a more uptempo nature. It's not quite as heavy as some of the stuff that you would get from a FATES WARNING album but there's not much in the way of that sense of etherealness either. And yet, as uptempo as the music is, when you listen to the lyrics, you can hear that the story being told in them is much darker sounding in tone than the music might suggest. And yet, it works. Like I said, when I heard this track with the announcement of the album coming out, I was blown away by it.

The intro for "Good Enough" features a spare guitar sound that, to me at least, conjured up a kind of melancholy feeling. I found myself connecting to the lyrics in a way that surprised me a little I must say. Other than the final verse where the song ramps up its musical intensity, it stays in that same kind of slow burn groove but everything seemed to fit together wonderfully. 

The opening lyric is incredible and though I'm probably reading too much into it, I know exactly the situation that my mind conjured up for this verse to tie itself to me.

"Would it be enough if I told you I’d settle down? 
Would you take my hand and tell me that now I’m found? 
Is that good enough? Am I good enough? 
Then you led me down the path away from broken ground"

But then you get the closing verse which seems somehow fatalistic with a stark realism that hit with me just as hard.

"It all comes down to this  
We’re not all victims of circumstance  
And it’s harder to admit  
That we all run out of second chances"

Call me crazy but I thought it was just one powerful track.

The more rocking thump style of music returns with "I'll Leave A Light On". The drums play a key role yet again. But I love the way Jim Matheos and his guitars have an insistent force to themselves here as well. And the killer lyric of "I'll leave a light on in case you come back, but I won't hold my breath" is delivered with a devastating accuracy that shows just how on point Ray Alder's vocal phrasing breathes an extra sense of life into the song.

Was it just me or did the opening of the song "All Fall Away" feel like it had at least a brief bit of electronic music feel to it in the opening? It was weird but not unlikable. The song's first verse plays out with that same tone but the chorus features a sonic explosion that takes the song into a different, edgier direction. At least for the chorus anyway, since it slows back down for the second verse. It's that kind of alternating style that gives you plenty to dig into with the song. I'm not saying I don't like the song, quite the opposite really. But it did take me a "second" to really get into the song as a whole. Also, the way it just cuts out at the end was an odd way to leave off with the song. I appreciate a song that doesn't linger but sometimes you want a fade out to adjust and move into the next song. You don't get that here.

As I started listening to "Revenge", I thought the opening was reminiscent of something you might hear from an 80s pop band. But that only lasted for about ten seconds before the more uptempo rocking nature of the music's tempo kicked it. It has a real lively tone to the music and there is a slightly looser feel to the overall performance. I daresay, the slightly quirky take to the musical score of this particular track really endeared itself to me pretty fast. I found my head bopping along in the full instrumental sections of the song as well as dig how much I was enjoying the vocal presentation as well.

There's no easygoing play in to the intro for "Villains or Saints", in fact it is pretty damn heavy and rocking. So when they main lyrical portion of the song kicked in for the first verse, the way the music slowed down it struck me a bit funny. But that in no way lessened the effect of the harder edged drive to the song's chorus. There's some stuff on this track that was really just mind-blowing to me. And this would be another track that should be considered one of the heaviest songs on either of the two albums.

When I suggest that the opening of "What Is and What Was" is atmospheric, I'm not just making it up. That opening feels like a recording of the wind blowing across an open plain set to music. It continues to be part of the song even as the understated guitar playing and that echoing vocal tone from Alder's performance come into the forefront. It does fade out after the first verse, but as a table setting for the song's emotive context, it works perfectly. It's just slightly over three minutes in lengthy but the song packs quite the punch.

There's a steady ramping up to a full fiery kind of fury in the intro to "All That Comes After". And once the song comes bursting through the speakers, what a killer track! Man, they really just rock your socks off with this song. It's a relentessly paced song that barely lets you catch a breath as it moves from one musical peak to another with a zesty nature I found impossible to resist. Hell, why would you want to? I think it might be one of my favorite tracks on the album.

The closing track on the album is also the album's title cut. It's also the longest track on the disc too. It's got a slight mid-tempo drive to it in the opening. When you get to the first vocal portion of the track, the song slows down and becomes more deliberate in the pacing. It never really blows out the speakers for three quarters of the song, but even with a more measured tone throughout the song, it still manages to feel quite heavy in nature. And then over that last quarter of the song, the driven intensity of the music grows into into a full on burst of energy that just seems to keep growing in dramatic tone.

Once again, the lyrics are amazing. The line that opens this song is phenomenal: "I told secrets you told lies now you’ve run out of alibis" I love what seems to be the closing line of the lyrics as well with: "But how can you cast a shadow through a doorway when the light’s gone dim? 

From within… 
The dark remains…"

But unfortunately, the included lyrics file included left off a bit of what came after that line and it really was a bummer because it would've read better if all the words had been included I think. Still the song is a master class in how to write some damn fine music that hits you where it hurts.

When I reviewd the 'Really Good Terrible Things' album in 2024, I remember one of my friends telling me they didn't really get into the album. And then I saw a Youtube channel's review that basically gave it a thumbs down which made me wonder how they could completely miss out on the greatness of that release.

Given how much heavier the music is on 'How to Cast a Shadow', I think both of those people might just like this album a lot more than they did the first one.

I reviewed this album listening to a download I was sent. But I had already pre-ordered a physical copy of it. And after listening to the album for myself, even if it suggests I'm full of way more hubris than is healthy, I think the NORTH SEA ECHOES album 'How to Cast a Shadow' amply demonstrates that Ray Alder and Jim Matheos have created another musical masterpiece!

5.0 Out Of 5.0