Origin : Finland
Genre : Melodic Death / Doom Metal
Release : 2008 (EP)
Album Info / Review
**Swallow the Sun — *Plague of Butterflies***
*Released 2009 (Compilation of 2002‑2004 demos)*
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### Overview
*Plague of Butterflies* is the melanchomic, guitar‑heavy primer that launched what would become one of the defining acts of modern Swedish doom. It’s not a studio album in the conventional sense; instead, it stitches together four demo recordings spanning a restless early‑career period. The result is a patchwork of raw energy and unbleached intimacy—no polished varnish, just a window into the band’s embryonic sound.
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## Sound & Atmosphere
From the opening a haunting wind‑whistled riff slides in, after which the guitars swell with a slow, dirge‑like weight. There’s a jangly, almost folk‑medieval influence underlying the doom, a trait Swallow the Sun elevated by the use of clean, almost harp‑like guitar passages before the drums unleash a thrum of heaviness. The key element is the continuous undercurrent of melancholy: a choir‑like, few‑voice harmony that rings over each track, creating an oppressive beauty that surfaces only in parts of the song.
The stage is pressed into a lo‑fi arena. The distant reverb on keyboards feels more like an echo off a church vault than a studio embellishment; the female vocal treatments feel like someone whispering in a manner of purgatory. Ethically, it’s a soundscape that regenerates the black‑soul of doom while threading it through a veil of post‑gothic dream‑scapes—no frenetic thrash or intense blast‑drum searing, but a slow‑burn approach that forces the listener to feel each sorrow.
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## Riffs & Structures
### “Plague and Winter”
This track sets the tone: a slowed‑down, tremolo‑heavy riff that bends on a haunted major chord. The progression deliberately elongates on the oscillation between the open string and the 5th fret, establishing a cyclic feeling of dragging autumn.
### “Dawn For The Dead”
Here, the single choir‑audio background is not just an eerie backdrop, but a dynamic line that acts like a counter‑riff. The rhythm shifts and intervals slide to unearth symmetrical scales, placed just above the guitar’s mid‑range.
### “Back to Winter”
The arrangement never stutters; it is smooth. The riff uses a spike‑based technique—a side‑scan technique that threatens when closing. The vibe is clergy‑like; the drums rattle gently but often with heavy triple stabs. This track blends melodic lead lines with brutal chords.
### “Open Arms” (the highlight)
A slow, languorable pattern with a heavy bass line that takes the nave of the song to its apex. Power chords strap the anthem; an ambient magnet glides to restoration.
Across the four songs, each riff embraces its own tempo, nothing suddenly skyrockets. The drive is via moody bass and occasional, slightly subdued gated toms. The overall pattern is a true doom approach: B minor or C minor or D major in the lead, while the bass shifts to a sub‑dominant for a chorus of threat.
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## Production Quality
No studio gloss touches these tracks—there’s a sound captured in a small one‑room studio that becomes its own signature. The rawness, however, isn’t entirely a drawback; it displays the untamed ambiance of the band’s youth. The standout glitches that can get noticed in a more polished demo-based production are never fatal; the power of the song listens will keep it, some of the key loops cannot capture.
The reverb on the guitars, the recording of the male and female voices, and the audible saturation on the beat dance across the mid–bass spectrum. The vocal layering is enriched with supplemental vocal samples, providing the overall feeling of a rather textured score that is real.
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## Overall Impression
*Plague of Butterflies* is a love letter, a raw piece from an early, undiscovered phase, and exposes an era when the band was still chasing a sound. The album is a collection of continental gloom with a handful of sublime melodies; a demo album that captures the soul of a record. The production perspective, though improbable and extreme, confirms authenticity.
It’s simple: the compilation merges lack of momentum with a loving advance. It evokes darker moments without the melancholy of designs; it can become a tasting cup of current doom metal. The album never detracts from an inertia that sets the world of melancholy metal with key track structure. It truly shows your band that it has something to try to occupy, but the rawness is connected to authenticity, which music lovers still know.
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