Lista de Bandas Melodic Death Eucharist (SWE) A Velvet Creation

I have a really big soft spot for early melodic death metal, ever since I first started really delving into it. As somebody who never really got into the Gothenburg scene that much (though there are bands in that general style I like quite a bit), I tend to appreciate the earlier, more death metal-minded form of the style, as seen through At The Gates' early releases, Sentenced's North From Here, and this band. Eucharist were one of the pioneers of the sound, focusing heavily on overt melody, but retained the general aggression of the Swedeath scene. Is it a perfect album? Not quite. But it IS an exceptional record.

It can easily be said that Eucharist were one of the more ambitious bands from that old Swedish guard; in terms of song structure, this album overall has a more progressively minded, yet also tight sense of structure. Combined with the band's penchant for truly impressive riffwork and harmonies, you get this record. The band's sense of dynamics with knowing how and where to take these songs is - again - impressive throughout; not only are the riffs excellent, they never feel overly out of place next to each other, and nor do the songs ever become overly mish-mashy either. There's a definite sense of focus that belies how young these guys were when they wrote this album. Songs like "Greeting Immortality", "Floating", and the title track are excellently written songs from start to finish and display the band at their best.

Another thing that sticks out to me about this album is the band's skillful useage of harmony. Tracks such as "March of Insurrection" and "Once My Eye Moved Mountains" use harmonies superbly, defining the mood for the songs incredibly well without being noodled on endlessly, and fit in superbly within the context of the record throughout.

The musicianship on A Velvet Creation is superb. While these guys weren't the most technical band out there, the musicianship is clearly accomplished enough to fit the music like a glove throughout. The guitarists, in particular, are tight and skilled throughout, and the drumming is some of the best you can ask for with an album of this nature. The bass doesn't stand out that much in the thin yet soft production, but it gets a couple of moments to shine, and it adds to the songs well when it does. (as evidenced in "My Bleeding Tears") The vocals are appropriate and fit like a glove throughout, a raspy, high-pitched style that works well.

The production... it's obviously not good at all. It's very trebly and soft, in a way, and the drums are probably too loud in the mix during the blast sections. I've kind of gotten to the point where I don't really mind it as much as I used to; it's not good, but it isn't something that really breaks my enjoyment of the album. It's a situation akin to what happened with At The Gates' debut - it's not very good, but after a while, you get used to it.

The bottom line is that if you're interested in death metal, period - melodic or otherwise - and you can learn to live with the production, you'll find yourself with an exceptional record in this. Highly recommended when all is said and done.