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Eucharist
Mirrorworlds


4.0
excellent

Review

by Kyle Ward EMERITUS
May 17th, 2008 | 59 replies


Release Date: 1997 | Tracklist


In the vein of such bands like Dark Tranquillity, At The Gates, and In Flames, many melodic death metal bands out there use one basic formula. We have a really melodic riff to open the song, followed by a heavy, crushing verse. Things take off again during the chorus, bringing the melodies back in full swing, before maybe another verse and chorus of the same format give way to the bridge, where either a guitar solo or calm, soothing break is given to the listener, before a final chorus wraps things up nice and tight. Sure, it works; sure it sounds good, but is it something which will jump off the page? Not quite. Unless you have riffs which absolutely knock the breath out of someone, that format used again and again for 10 or so songs is likely to become tiresome, creating a very unhappy and irritated listener just hanging out in the breeze because the album seemed to take a leave of absence in the creativity department. Sound familiar to any of you?

If you replied yes, then here we have the solution to your boredom. Eucharist is a rather criminally unknown band out of Sweden who formed during the beginning of the Gothenburg scene. Forming in 1989, Eucharist plays melodic death metal which sounds relatively familiar and comfortable, but also has elements which take the listener by storm and throw in amounts of creativity which makes them sound fresh and alive, like they didn’t get bored writing material and didn’t seem to play the same song for half of the album. Their only two full-length albums, A Velvet Creation and Mirrorworlds go almost completely unknown to those who don’t look to find them, and that is really a shame. The band split up after releasing Mirrorworlds, ending their short, unrecognized, but impacting career in the scene.

The band faded into oblivion after splitting up, leaving Mirrorworlds as their last input to the melodic death metal scene. Vastly underrated and barely recognized, it incorporates all of the trademarks of melodic death metal, and manages to thrown in touches of their own. The distorted tone of the guitars contrast the times when they are playing in harmony, giving another dimension to their melodies which is unmistakable and intensely refreshing, something which makes Mirrorworlds sound like it is more geared toward a desperate, epic atmosphere. To put it simple, Eucharist chooses melody and beauty over brute force and heaviness, and that is one of the first things I look for when it comes to melodic death metal. If you can’t make the death metal melodic, why call it that? Eucharist clearly addresses this and then some, because the band takes a very serious approach to their guitar riffs, solos, and even their instrumentals, which bring to mind those which Beyond The Embrace perform. They are not some filler track to transition from one song to the next; they are an entity of their own, and play like one.

Blending the death metal with the melodies is more complicated that it seems, because you can’t just throw in a melodic riff during the chorus of a song and call it melodic death metal. To me, great melodic death bands are the ones which incorporate some sort of melody into every single aspect of their sound, something which Eucharist does with perfection on almost every track during Mirrorworlds. The album contains your typical harmonized guitar leads, which take off and soar above the underlying “death metal” feel of the awesome, thickly distorted leads which kick off tracks like “Mirrorworld”, “Bloodred Stars”, and “Dissolving”. It’s quite a feat considering the way the two types of melodies work together, contrasting each other at just the right moments, in a way that it seems like it was meant to be together.

Everything melts together into one mold which creates the following song. The vocals, which sound a bit like a better produced, slightly raspy version of Dan Swano when he played in Edge Of Sanity, go at the pace of the guitars and never sound out of place in comparison to what is going on around them. The only point where this rhythm seems slightly skewed is during the heaviest track “Demons”, when the melodies aren’t as potent and the song is more unforgiving and heavy, with the bass guitar playing a very important role in keeping the song from taking off in the direction of its counterparts. It is a nice change, but a slightly disappointing track considering all of the other songs here.

As epic as melodic death can come, Mirrorworlds is a pinnacle of atmosphere in terms of a sense of desperation, with the guitars always picking things up and lifting the atmosphere, with the vocals in a sort of battle to try and drag things down. The vocals sound truly sad and depressed, very emotional indeed. Take one listen to “Fallen” and you will know this is something completely different than any other melodic death you’ve heard. The two instrumentals, the 6:36 monster “The Eucharist” and the 5:06 “In Nakedness” show off the instrumental side to the band, with “The Eucharist” having an absolutely insane, drawn-out guitar solo which any listener to this album must not miss. If a band takes this kind of attention and amazing guitar work and directs it at an instrumental, you know there is some immense talent within the minds of the individuals who wrote these songs. The solos and bridges preset even more variety, present in nearly every song; they either slow things down to a depressing crawl or heighten them with a spectacular guitar solo. Everything seems to work with a system of checks and balances, to make sure that no two events during a song are the same, reflecting an attention to detail which I cannot say many other bands possess.

The only real way I can describe the attention to detail in every song throughout Mirrorworlds is intelligent. It takes songwriting ability which I can’t begin to fathom to know exactly what goes with what and which guitar melodies pair with each other. Eucharist really delivered their masterpiece to the melodic death scene with their last album Mirrorworlds. Partly because of a lackluster label, the album fell into obscurity, only heard by those who really looked to find it.



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user ratings (92)
3.8
excellent
other reviews of this album
BillEco (4.5)
Criminally underated. A melodeath masterpiece that will save many listeners from the mediocrity of ...

related reviews

A Velvet Creation


Comments:Add a Comment 
Foodforthegods
May 4th 2008


425 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Finally!!! Someone review this melodeath classic. I wanted to do it as soon as possible. THis is just an amazing record. Anyone should hear it.

unretrovertigofied
May 4th 2008


232 Comments


Crysis, thank you. I've wanted to see someone review this album for ages, after reading about it on amazon.com
I need to get my hands on this one.
Good review too!

Crysis
Emeritus
May 4th 2008


17641 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Thanks, I'm glad people wanted to see this reviewed. It's a great album, I got it last week and I've been listening to it constantly.

Eliminator
May 4th 2008


2067 Comments


one of the few non-gay melodeath bands

Crysis
Emeritus
May 4th 2008


17641 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Anyone know if their other album is as good as this?

AngelPhoenix
May 4th 2008


2761 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Shame these guys broke up

SCREAM!
May 4th 2008


15755 Comments


Definately gonna check this out. Good review

Foodforthegods
May 4th 2008


425 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

for the interested, the drum is Daniel from Arch Enemy. I think their other cd is good but this one is the best.

Eliminator
May 5th 2008


2067 Comments


a velvet creation is awesome

rattlehead42147
May 5th 2008


1345 Comments


I'm not into melodeath so I didn't really like this when i checked it out a few months ago, i'm going to go with A velvet Creation next and see if i like that any more.

asdemonsburn
May 5th 2008


793 Comments


I shall check this band out

rasputin
May 5th 2008


14968 Comments


looks pretty good, I'll have to look into it. Great review.

Essence
May 5th 2008


6740 Comments


Per your awesome review, I shall look into this

DBlitz
May 5th 2008


1693 Comments


Sounds good, I'll look for it later. Excellent review.

FR33L0RD
May 5th 2008


6400 Comments


I will check this album ASAP, thanks

SoulReaper
May 5th 2008


193 Comments


amazing band, im not pro-downloading full albums, but this web site has Mirrorworld and most of A Velvet Creation, and some cool demos. but Markus Johnsson gave the website permission to post it for downloading, so there you go!

http://www.artnoir-productions.com/eucharist/mp3.html

(however, i still will buy this album when i manage to find it)

SCREAM!
May 5th 2008


15755 Comments


Imma check out that link. Thanks dude

Eliminator
May 6th 2008


2067 Comments


I'm not into melodeath so I didn't really like this when i checked it out a few months ago, i'm going to go with A velvet Creation next and see if i like that any more.
they aren't generic melodeath like most of the bands jocked on here

SoulReaper
May 6th 2008


193 Comments


No problem SCREAM!, hope you enjoy it!

Eliminator is right, these guys arnt generic melodeath.
they kinda feel like a mix between At the Gates, Dissection, and Old Dark Tranquility to me.This Message Edited On 05.05.08

Wizard
May 6th 2008


20569 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

I've known about these guys for quite some time now but never bothered to check them out. Your review has changed my mind on this band. Excellent review like always Crysis.



Blending the death metal with the melodies is more complicated that it seems,


*than



There were a few other spelling mistakes I noticed and I'm too lazy to pick them out again. This Message Edited On 05.06.08



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