Swallow The Sun
Plague Of Butterflies

In the world of Swallow the Sun, the emotions, senses, and impressions you have with your eyes closed are anything but random. Quite the opposite. This band prefers to inject them with unusual awareness, as if you were being infected by a violent, heavy, alluring virus. This, probably, is the right adjective to describe the music of these Finns: alluring. And the reason is soon explained.
Being part of a hybrid scene such as Doom/Death Metal, they do not have endless spaces of originality at their disposal to be called "unique." Still, their strength, their great talent, lies in their ability to skillfully blend the classic ingredients of both genres, adding even more massive doses of decadence and negativity. The finished product is indeed a set of notes that take deep roots in the great icy atmosphere of the north, which, though necessarily a deeply daunting and difficult axiom to digest at first glance, fascinates and leaves one stunned.

This EP, following the wonderful "Hope" and "The Mourning Never Came," reaffirms the discourse previously initiated by the band. But much has changed. First, however, the structure must be explained, which in this case consists of three songs linked to each other, each seeming to illuminate a different atmospheric aspect of the monolith presented, dealing with the story of an old hermit and his wanderings in the dark forests of the north, where he finds nothing but desolation and sadness, metaphorically represented as a disease that deeply afflicts him. The original choice to propose a sort of "themed path" seems to derive from a broader artistic project that Swallow the Sun was meant to participate in the past, then abandoned for unspecified reasons.

The three songs in question are titled "Losing the Sunset," "Plague of Butterflies," and "Evael 10:00," totaling almost 35 minutes, and are the best you could desire from the band. The sounds have become more sophisticated, employing a range of keyboards and synths never as present as now and blending well with the group's general decadent atmosphere, starting with the lapping of the sea, continuing in a harrowing journey through dark natural meanders, and concluding in a sweet and dreamy manner.
It's interesting to note how the performance of singer Mikko Kotamäki has become more varied and eclectic, often yielding to terrifying screams and even, especially in the first part, to a clean and almost recited singing style, as the best derivation from My Dying Bride. So not just growls, and not just the choking sensation you had listening to, for example, "Hope." Rather here, everything is more airy, more melancholic, more thoughtful and reflective, always keeping in mind that the granitic, slow, and exasperating moments typical of Doom always play a leading role, and it could not be otherwise. However, listening to the tail end of the third part, one almost gets emotional hearing a piano marking a sad and distant melody, surrounded by sharp, majestic, and martial guitars, creating a "unique" of rare beauty, proving, if needed, that here we're not talking about a band of amateurs but rather a group of people with a well-defined history and structure behind them.

There you have it. When at the beginning we talked about the emotions, senses, and impressions one has, we referred precisely to what was said above, and Swallow the Sun are masters at skillfully guiding you through the etchings they themselves have created. They have always defined their music as full of "Gloomy and Despair," dark and desperate, and this EP, in the first part, is yet another confirmation of this.

However, it's a pity that all the peaks reached with the initial "triad" of tracks is then compromised and shattered by the second part's specter, which is nothing more than a reissue of their demo-tape "Out of This Gloomy Light" in its entirety, with the songs "Through Her Silvery Body," "Out of This Gloomy Light," "Under the Waves" and "Swallow (Horror pt.1)" that were part of it.
Those who have known and followed them for a long time will know, however, that in their debut "The Mourning Never Came," these same tracks were already on the setlist, and thus, besides being superfluous and useless to talk about them, not due to the depth and quality of the material which is excellent and well-known, referring you to the excellent and exquisite review made at the time by friend Norvheim, which you can easily find in the database, it must be admitted that the beauty, majesty, and originality of Swallow the Sun's current proposal, in this context, is heavily undermined by the specter of doubt that this is, perhaps, merely a commercial operation, and therefore, for those who were expecting a one hundred percent original work, bitterness remains.

We must be objective and, even if we viscerally love this group, we cannot help but question and criticize the opportunity of such a second reissue, which we hope does not indicate a decline in inspiration. Fingers crossed. Waiting for the new times to come.