Review Summary: The ashes of an album which had the potential to be nothing short of classic.
I’ll give you all a brief history about dropping the ball. Bill Buckner dropped the ball in the 1986 World Series. Michael Bay dropped the ball with
Pearl Harbor. Trivium dropped the ball when they decided to become a band. George Bush dropped the ball (or should I say the WMD’s) when he went searching for them in Iraq. Descent Productions has, among other things, dropped the ball with Finnish progressive death metal band Ikuinen Kaamos’ latest album
Epilogue. The label delayed the release of the album for just nigh eight months, citing issues printing the album and, ultimately, financial issues in even getting the thing to stores. So, here we are, in December, just getting word of what exactly is to come of
Epilogue, which was meant to be released way back in April. The final verdict: canceled.
All is not lost, however, since the bright lads in Ikuinen Kaamos decided to release the first three tracks from
Epilogue in a completely free, downloadable EP entitled
Closure. Now, it is a shame that the last three tracks recorded for
Epilogue were basically scratched and tossed away, but the fact that the band had the passion to release their music at no charge is astounding. These three tracks encompass about 28 minutes, and by the time it is over you end up feeling both disappointed and very content. You are content with the fact that what is contained on
Closure is both unique and very well executed, but disappointed that the tail half of what used to be here is completely gone.
The three tracks, “Closure”, “Your Gallows”, and “The Absence”, are three of the finest pieces of progressive death I have heard in a while. To compare, I would much rather listen to any piece on
Closure than anything off of
Watershed, mostly due to the fact that the three tracks here are completely rock solid; there are simply no boring moments on the entire thing. The guitar riffs are amazingly melodic (and I emphasize
amazingly) while slipping back and forth between harmonized leads and almost solo-like riffs to heavy, but still melodic, verse riffs. It is almost too much to really take in with just one listen. The vocals are entwined with the riffs, and fit beautifully like the clean vocals which open the album in “Closure”. The mood changes between aggression (with death metal growls), harmony (with clean vocals), and rage (with black metal vocals). It’s easy to get swallowed in the amazing vocal performance, and ignore the more subtle nuances which Ikuinen Kaamos manage to insert in their music. The music sways constantly; with short bridges inserted all over the place amongst the riffs and the excellent drum beats which back them.
It’s just astounding, though, when all is said and done, how it’s hard to come up with a single bad thing to say about
Closure aside from the fact that it is simply not enough. Descent Productions lost one of the most talented unknown bands I have heard in a very, very long time, and that is a loss they will have to deal with down the road if Ikuinen Kaamos continues to create music of this caliber. Not only should you download
Closure because it’s free, not only should you download it because this band deserves as much support as it can get, you should download it because it is nothing short of impressive.
I'm glad I got a copy of The Frail Tide while the band was selling it independently.
