Swallow The Sun

"Plague Of Butterflies" (EP)

Label: Spinefarm Records

One year after the release of the exceptional album “Hope”, Swallow The Sun return with the “Plague Of Butterflies” EP. The Finnish death/doom band continues to surprise with its upswing producing music, after their 2003 debut. “Plague Of Butterflies” is not an exception and it has reached the number 1 of the Finnish charts from the first week of its release. 

The EP consists of the 35 minutes ‘epic’ song “Plague Of Butterflies” and the “Out Οf This Gloomy Light” demo of 2003, which adds another four songs to the EP giving it a total duration of 60 minutes (someone could reasonably say that the duration is somehow big for an EP). 

The “Plague Of Butterflies” is a three-part song consisting of Losing The Sunsets/Plague Of Butterflies/Evael 10:00. Here, Swallow The Sun present all the elements of their melodic death/doom sound: the sombre melodies, with the 2 guitars and the keyboards setting the mood, clean and death vocals and nice turns from the slow and "clean" parts to the fierce death parts. The song, despite its big duration, is keeping the interest of the listener irreducible through the clever balance between the heavy and "dark" parts and the slower and sombre melodies (that occasionally make the perfect break for the listener to relax his ears). Particular mention deserves the singer Mikko Kotamäki who is exceptional in his clean and especially his death vocals.

The “Out Οf This Gloomy Light” demo consists of the songs “Through Her Silvery Body”, “Out of This Gloomy Light”, “Swallow” and “Under the Waves”, that can be also be found  re-recorded in their debut album “The Morning Never Came”. Although the differences are not many, for those who are not familiar with Swallow The Sun these songs are very good and they are a typical example of their music, while for those that love these ones it is a good chance to hear the original versions.

In general terms, “Plague Of Butterflies” EP is a very good project from  Swallow The Sun that will completely satisfy the fans of death metal (especially death/doom and progressive death), and fans of bands like Katatonia, Opeth, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, etc).