18 minutes of quality melodic doomy death metal.
Ben Stubbs | Australia | 07/03/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"A couple of years after their debut full-length album, Katatonia returned with this 4 track EP. With a running time of only 18 minutes, this may at first appear to be unworthy of your attention, yet you would be missing out on some really great early period Katatonia if you pass it up. None of the material was available on any other release until the "Brave Yester Days" compilation in 2004 which contains it in its entirety. So there's no reason to hunt down the out of print slipcase edition unless you're a Katatonia completist like myself.
Although it states in the slipcase that they have a new member named Guillaume Le Huche, it is in fact the same bassist as on "Dance of December Souls" (he was named Israphel Wing on that release), so the line-up is unchanged. This would be the last release that Renkse would sing in an aggressive style. The next album would contain the awesome vocals of Mikael Akerfeldt, before Renkse would return to the duty with the clean vocal style that still remains today.
This EP is more appropriately compared to what came before it than what would follow, as it's sound is more in line with "Dance of December Souls" than "Brave Murder Day". Doom / death metal with more of an emphasis on melody than previous releases. 8 minute opener "Funeral Wedding" is the standout track, containing stunning melodies throughout, a double bass drum/guitar interlude and a fantastic vocal performance. "Shades of Emerald Fields" is a fairly rocking track which once again contains a lot of variety and a whole selection of riffs and melodies to keep things interesting. That's something that really stands out when listening to the early Katatonia albums. Each song contains so many separate little sections while still holding a constant them and remaining coherent throughout. The remaining 4 minutes contain "For Funerals to Come" (an acoustic piece with haunting clean vocals) and finally, "Epistel" (a mix of distortion and rather frightening reversed screaming!). Overall, I find this release to be short but sweet and well worth checking out for fans of their early style."
