Katatonia
Jhva, Elohim, Meth...The Revival

1993: back then, Scandinavian extreme metal was dominated by two feral and devastating genres. I'm talking about death metal, the death metal characteristic of bands like At The Gates and Entombed, and Norwegian black metal with its Mayhem, Darkthrone, Emperor and screaming company.

Some bands, however, decided to distance themselves from the speed and the devastating impact of these two forms of metal and, while not denying certain typical characteristics of both death and black, preferred to approach the gloomy and decadent atmospheres of Anglo-Saxon doom.

One of these highly talented formations goes by the name of Katatonia and remains, in my opinion but also that of many others, one of the greatest and unfinished realities in the history of doom. The group, in fact, after a few years of "gloomy" activity preferred to orient itself towards other shores and other solutions, embracing the cause of an alternative and emotional rock. But let's avoid pushing too far forward with the years and, on the contrary, try to keep our minds and ears in those terrible early nineties.

Blackheim (bass and guitar), Lord Seth (drums and vocals) and Dan Swano (keyboards) were three young Swedes fond of Celtic Frost, Bathory and those sad Albion souls known as Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. The guys, in reality, did not even despise extra-metal bands such as Joy Division, Pink Floyd, and Slowdive but, at least at the time, these influences did not affect Katatonia's musical proposal in the slightest.

Before releasing their controversial debut, the band put a EP version of their first demo on the market titled "Jhva, Elohim, Meth..The Revival", a raw gem that I want to talk about.

The style is still immature and heavily influenced by the pioneers of the genre but, when listening deeply to the songs in question, a certain personality emerges, a personality that would characterize the band for a certain period and would culminate, in 1996, in that jewel of an album titled "Brave Murder Day".

It begins with the evocative intro of "Midwinter Gates" and enters, after forty-three seconds, into the blasphemous fury of "Without God". A track that manages to be black metal and at the same time doom but perhaps more than the others, it gives us an incredibly epic and malevolent Katatonia.

Next comes "Palace Of Frost", cadenced and heavy, a song that allows us to understand the direction the band would soon take.

"The Northern Silence" is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best of the three pieces under examination. A slow and catacombal beginning that quickly unfolds into semi-black accelerations to reach a stellar and fascinating riff, a riff on which Lord Seth's scream stands impressively. Great!

As an "outro", the not very original "Crimson Tear" appears, but if connected to the overall atmosphere that reigns supreme on the album, it still holds its modest place.

To those who want to approach the dark world of Katatonia, I do not recommend this EP but other releases by the Swedish combo. For those of the "congregation", however, this "Jhva, Elohim, Meth...The Revival" is a mandatory purchase!