Has the unimaginable happened, have Peaceville run out of albums to re-release? Joking aside it is good news all round if they have (which we very much doubt) as this has meant that they have gone and unearthed some real rarities on EP.  One of these is the highly sought after 1994 For Funerals To Come EP from dour depressive Swedes Katatonia, which saw the gloom of day after the debut and most excellent album ‘Dance Of December Souls’ Of course if you had picked up compilation album Brave Yester Days you will have got these on that but still it is nice to get on stand alone disc and indeed vinyl if you are a Katatonic collector.

This originally came out when the band had their old spiky logo, adopted sinister names like Blakheim, were a trio and were not afraid to put a lay out the death vocal style, which is long a thing of the past. Of course one thing that was very much present was their signature meandering guitar style, something that has been copied by countless bands and perhaps was responsible in large part for paving the way for the whole atmospheric doom sub genre along with the likes of Anathema, My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, who had been making similar waves in the UK. The weeping tones of ‘Funeral Wedding’ bring abject misery to the core. Leonine tortured roars are the heartfelt sound of a groom burying their betrothed rather than getting hitched to them. The song is the longest on display from the original EP and goes through the emotions with faster canters and sorrowful acoustic passages. Do they sound like a group who have not quite found themselves and are slightly clumsy in instrumental execution? Well perhaps at times (especially the drumming) but that only just really adds to the appeal of it all. ‘Shades Of Emerald Fields’ is slightly calmer after the roaring finale of this and you find yourself nodding along to it and getting emerged into the guitars caress. Lyrics are poetic as if the band had been studying the great masters in school, ha they may have been at the time. The other two tracks are short, the acoustic title track and white noise of ‘Epistel’ do not really amount to that much to be honest, therefore it is really necessary that the label added a couple of extras.

These come in the form of two tracks recorded slightly later on at Unisound and ‘Black Erotica’ really is a classic which creeps up on you with delicate acoustic patterns before biting down gruffly and hard. There are some fantastic melodies on this one and it is a firm favourite from the era. Anders Nystrom’s guitar work had really come into its own by now, just listen to his signature riffs on ‘Love Of The Swan’ they are so damn tortured they really cut through the wrist right down to the bone. Of course the group were to have their greatest moment (in many people’s minds) ‘Brave Murder Day but these tracks presented here are still worthy of the status of being timeless classics.

(7.5/10 Pete Woods)  

http://katatonia.com