Eucharist - Mirrorworlds (1997)

Four years passed and the follow-up to A Velvet Creation would rear its head at last, after another brief breakup. In the meantime, At the Gates and In Flames had blown up into international metal superstars, Arch Enemy and Dark Tranquillity were starting to take off, and At the Gates had already broken up. Melodic death metal was a pretty well established style, a still-rising star that would serve as a gateway to many younger metal fans who were poisoned with nu-metal, and a breath of fresh air for jaded metal fans who found no value in death, black and grind extremity, seeking a return to the accessible melodic songwriting they grew up with in the 80s.

Aye, the world was ripe for the picking, and Mirrorworlds, the second effort from Eucharist, was a more modern effort with a bigger budget appeal than its predecessor. For reasons above and beyond that one, I do like this record a little more. The songs rock a little harder and there are some interesting moments. It's still not a classic, and for some reason, the band once again failed to draw much attention. I half expected this to be huge, seeing as the genre was exploding in popularity, but it only sealed their fate, with Erlandsson moving on to stardom with his countrymen (he had already recorded with In Flames during this band's hiatus betwen albums). Thomas Einarsson and Tobias Gustoffson had left the band prior to this recording, but Markus Karlsson joined on bass, making this a 3-piece effort.

Spacey noises announce the arrival of "Mirrorworld", and though one could immediate note the thicker guitar tones and lavish, newborn intensity of the band, the lack of the A Velvet Creation's sullen atmosphere would likely steer some away from the sound. Granted, Eucharist still had their own, somewhat distinct approach to this genre, but there was an infectious, modern energy that would be able to compete with the Whoracles, The Minds I's and Steelbath Suicides to come. "Dissolving" had an emotional, climactic pace which ran parallel to some of In Flames' work, big hooks and somber melodies that drifted above Johnsson's tortured throat. "With the Sun" blasts and breaks and blasts into another big rhythm, though it slows into more meaty mid-paced melodies and an acoustic outro. "The Eucharist" builds a grooving rock rhythm, crested by dual melodies, and I dug the echoing, atmospheric line that would conclude the lead around 3:30 in the track. "Demons" has some more rock to it (kind of like a premature Hearse), alternating the blues with some great outbreaks of death metal chaos.

In the twilight a bestial drama is being enacted
Her legs are separated as my tears fall on her breasts...
...oh, I fuck her...

Not only had the band upped their ante musically, but the lyrics here are also a little more fiery, if still poetic and lavished in gothic imagery. "Fallen" is my favorite song on the album, with a pensive gait that erupts numerous times into melodic bliss. Once more, there is a rock feel to the writing, similar to Hearse or some of Arch Enemy's material on Stigmata and Burning Bridges. "In Nakedness" makes great use of a horn and some acoustics to build an urbane, folk atmosphere. It's an instrumental track, with metal nowhere to be found, and one can't help but feel it's a dismissal of genre that foreshadowed a dismissal of Eucharist's future. But "Bloodred Stars" rides off into the sunset with a pretty killer, driving hook and some great bridge melodies akin to the debut album, so it all ends on a high note.

Ultimately, Mirrorworlds is superior to A Velvet Creation in many areas. About the only thing it lacks is the raw sincerity of the prior's recording. For most listeners, though, this is not likely to be an issue. The lyrics and most of the songs are more entertaining and energetic, with fine performances from the two original members. You could do worse than reach back to the year of 1997 and give this a spin, and I honestly prefer it to Dark Tranquillity's album that year (The Mind's I). This isn't perfect, and I suppose it doesn't stand on the longest of legs, but there are a few gems to dig up when the urge arises.

Highlights: The Eucharist, Fallen, Bloodred Stars

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (awaiting the sweetest release)

Eucharist - A Velvet Creation (1993)

Melodic death metal is pretty much a household fact of life for the metal head of the 21st century, but 16 years ago, very few bands were promoting it. Eucharist was one of the formative artists to adopt and help mold the path it continues to blaze today, after a few turbulent years that involved an early breakup (the band was formed in '89, but this album did not see release until 1993). Upon your first listen experience with A Velvet Creation, you'll notice that the band did not sound much like their peers, with a melancholic spin on the style that was a little closer to the death metal aesthetic. The album is distanced from the brutal variety, but the melodies were a little more subtle than the classic power metal tint infused into the sounds of Dark Tranquillity (whose debut Skydancer also debuted this year) and In Flames (whose debut Lunar Strain would arrive in 1994). The riffing was more carnal here, despite the gothic elegance of the lyrics and songwriting.

There are some advocates who would tell you that A Velvet Creation, and Eucharist, were superior to either of those bands (even At the Gates), but here I must disagree. Though the album flows from front to back with a delicate balance of grace and terror, the individual songs don't stand out nearly as much as the forthcoming mid-90s classic Slaughter of the Soul, The Jester Race, or The Gallery. In retrospect, this debut is a decent curiosity, but nothing more, and it was soon buried in the piles of praise for its peers. Drummer Daniel Erlandsson would himself leave for In Flames and Arch Enemy, touring and a few substantial paychecks, and original bassist Tobias Gustafsson (who played on this album) would depart to Armageddon.

Alas, my intention is not to sound too down on this album, because it's certainly not bad. But, unlike wine, it has not grown any tastier with age, and my moderate appreciation in birth has not increased through the years of adolescence. Classical acoustic guitar pulls and plucks its way into Erlandsson's double bass and the righteous old school death rhythm of "Greeting Immortality" (from their earlier demo), while Markus Johnsson's vocals tear across the realms of black and death metal infinity and his bass thunders below. The song was pretty popular in its demo days, and a natural choice to open the record with some class and energy. "The Religion of the Blood-Red Velvet" moves at a mid pace, with grim yet festive churning and chugging guitars balanced with simple, complementary melodies. Like most of the material here, it's good, just not great by any means, nor is the following "March of Insurrection", despite its steady thrash chugging and raw, emotional bridge that leads into an average melodic death charge. "My Bleeding Tears", despite its rather emo title, starts with a drum battery over bass plodding and then a pretty powerful rhythm, though this doesn't stand still for long as the guitars erupt into a pair of bleeding tears steadily rolling down the blinded eyes of the cover figure. The bow sound at the 1:30 really adds to the gothic atmosphere of the track, and Johnsson's pulls out some nice bass lines that swagger below the guitars at around 2:10.

Behold my bleeding tears
That fall
Because you will never understand
How I feel

Like a lot of melodic death in these days (as well as early gothic metal), the lyrics read like so much empty poetry. But at least they match the album's atmosphere and the solemn guitars. "Floating" commences with some more acoustic lines, and then develops into some pretty cool guitar effects and leads that wind through the verse, probably one of the deeper and more interesting tracks on this album. The title track is my clear favorite, with some great tone to the dual, driving guitars as they thread their woeful notes through a saddened black heart. When Johnsson's vocals are matched to this rhythm a little later on, the album becomes sheer bliss, if only for a moment. "Into the Cosmic Sphere" has a good charge to it, with even more of the subtle, dual melodies that were the signature for their sound. Another great riff here, at 1:30, gloomy and gorgeous, and beneath the vocals, it bears a lot in common with early melodic doom ala Paradise Lost. "Once My Eye Moved Mountains" is a killer song title and one of the album's better pieces to boot. Though the verse strives over a pretty average melodeath riff (which we'd be hearing, many thousands of times over the next decade or so), the lead is fairly infectious and the whole song quite energetic.

There are no hidden surprises here. The album might sound a little thin to the modern ear, but this is really how its melodies manage to shine through. I rather prefer the honesty of the atmosphere to many of today's severely overdubbed, digitized, sterile recordings. As for the writing: half of the songs are good, the other half average, the lyrics a mixed bag, and nothing here that I'd go out of my way to hear. But if you've got a nostalgia for the roots of this style, you'll find it was a pretty obvious influence on many bands to follow, and it's palatable enough alongside a glass of bitter sweet wine, Skydancer, and the first two At the Gates records.

Highlights: Floating, A Velvet Creation, Into the Cosmic Sphere

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (distant from this world of wickedness)