SHAPE OF DESPAIR is a Doom act assembled by members of THY SERPENT and BARATHRUM. The band, originally assembled in 1995, was initially titled RAVEN issuing the February 1998 demo tape 'Alive In The Mist'. Recording line-up at this juncture was quoted at J.S. (a.k.a. Jarno Salomaa) on guitar and keyboards, T.U. (Tomi Ullgren) on bass and T.M. on drums. The act became SHAPE OF DESPAIR in 1998 with the addition of THY SERPENT man Azhemin and female singer N.S. ( Nathalie Koskinen) Signing to Spinefarm Records SHAPE OF DESPAIR crafted 'Shades Of...' during December 1999 with producers Antti Lindell and Kaide Hinkkala, both ex-CORPUS OMNI DOMINI members. A further expansion in the ranks saw the induction of flautist J.V. and drummer S.R. ( Samu Ruotsalainen) of RAPTURE, BARATHRUM and FINNTROLL repute. Follow up ' Angels Of Distress', issued in 2001 on Spinefarm, had P.K. ( Pasi Koskinen) of AMORPHIS, MANNHAI and AJATTARA delivering "growlings" and violinist Toni Reahalme.

Bassist Tomi Ullgren and guitarist Jarno Salomaa also acted as guitar players in RAPTURE. Bassist Sami Uusitalo was added to the SHAPE OF DESPAIR line-up in November of 2002. That same year Jarno Salomaa helped forge the Doom imbued project band THE MIST AND THE MORNING DEW in cahoots with an all star roster comprising singer Veera Muhli of UNHOLY, THE SEVENTH PLANET pairing of rhythm guitarist Mikael Karlbom and drummer Henri Tuomi, FINNTROLL's bass player Sami Uusitalo and the violin of Jaakko Lemmetty of SHAMAN repute. The band readied a new album for September 2004 entitled 'Illusion's Play', recorded at Hellhole studios in Helsinki.

SHAPE OF DESPAIR planned a compilation album of rare and archive material for 2005 release. New material for this collection would be recorded at Sundicoop Studios in Savonlinna during late March.