Swallow The Sun – Plague of Butterflies

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Spinefarm
Produced by Swallow The Sun & Sami Koivisto

Epic doom/death metal outfit Swallow The Sun are calling Plague of Butterflies a mini-album. That can go down without threat of competition as understatement of the year.

The title track alone, at 35 minutes, is longer than many artist’s full-length “albums”. A further four tracks take the whole CD to the hour mark, which is comfortably album-length. But a mini-album is what they say, with their next proper album still to come. That’s one impressive work-rate.

In actual fact the four extra tracks here were not recorded specifically for this release, they are from an unreleased demo recorded in 2003 called Out of This Gloomy Light. All four songs were recorded on the debut album The Morning Never Came but since only three demos were ever sent out to record labels, the one sent to Firebox Records being the one to get them signed, these are brand new versions as far as Swallow The Sun fans are concerned. Furthermore the quality of the recording is far beyond what listeners would normally expect from a demo recording.

But of course the main point of the album is the epic title track, which is actually three distinct movements, or chapters, titled ‘Losing Sunsets’, ‘Plague of Butterflies’ and ‘Evael 10:00′. Where the divisions between these pieces are isn’t entirely clear, there are certainly three places they could be (at roughly 12:00, 18:30 and 25:00) but to be honest the whole thing flows perfectly, taking in every aspect of Swallow The Sun’s multitude of styles.

Everything about Plague of Butterflies is epic. Like most of their material, even during passages where Mikko Kotamäki is using traditional death metal growls the guitar work and pace is epic doom a la My Dying Bride, but during over half an hour of music seamlessly flowing and changing between melodic, clean parts, desperately heavy death parts and everything in between it is one of the most mesmerising pieces of music likely to be released all year.

By slight contrast the demo recordings represent some of the darkest, most oppressive songs the band have ever recorded, from a time when the use of clean vocals was sparing. This disc as a whole shows any would be new fans exactly how the band have evolved from their first demo to their newest and most accomplished output to date. Existing fans won’t want to be without it, and for everyone else it’s an education, including for other bands who turn out 35-minute albums and think they’ve earned their pay.

“ mesmerising ”

Tracklist: Plague of Butterflies / Through Her Silvery Body / Out of This Gloomy Light / Swallow (Horror Pt.1) / Under The Waves

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2008, Albums, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Swallow The Sun