Review Summary: Although rough in production, this debut ep proves the band were master songwriters from the very beginning. Atmospheres are overflowing with emotion as lush melodies battle with dense dissonance.
First River Regards is a re-release of Mar De Grises' debut self-titled EP. That means these songs were all written at the beginning of their career, back when the original (and in my opinion, superior) vocalist was with them.
The first two tracks, "Storm" and "Recklessness", would later be reworked and re-recorded for their first full length album. The versions here are still fantastic work, but pale in comparison to the recordings we hear on The Tatterdemalion Express. The real reason to get this EP is the last two tracks, which is in itself over twenty minutes of material.
The songs "Mar de Grises" and "For Just an Eternity" are two of the finest pieces of music ever composed. While later releases explored more spacey and ethereal sounding work, this EP is strictly dark, depressing, and hopeless death doom, though that's not to say it's stripped down at all. Although not as progressive as later material, these tracks have a more symphonic sound; heavy with keyboards and resembling classical music in structure, they are dense with instrumentation. The atmosphere created is very lonely; a persisting sense of solitude permeates through the entirety of the work, much as it did on their debut. I am still blown away at the fact these guys were able to write and preform something so astounding at the beginning of their career.
Ultimately, the final track takes the spotlight here, and I'd be hard pressed to find a better closer in any other release, be it album or EP. I wouldn't claim this EP as the band's best material, and I certainly wouldn't say they declined in quality with time; however, "For Just an Eternity" remains their greatest moment, and perhaps there's proof in the fact they included it in their farewell tour setlist, over ten years after it's original recording.
