Genre: Death Metal/Doom Metal

Track Listing:

01 Grief Of These Days
02 Prophecy Of Doom
03 Countdown Point
04 World's Autumn
05 Cover Me With Snow
06 The City
07 Stars Of Your Sky
08 Awakening Among The Warm Days
09 Step To Eternity
10 Reflexes Of Heaven
11 Touch Of Snowstorm
12 Dark Waters
13 The Winds Blow There
14 Oblivion (1999, bonus)

Ekklesiast (don't have a cyrillic keyboard, I'm afraid) are a strange band; they don't really do anything that screams uniqueness or anything, but they don't really sound like anything in particular either. Things swerve wildly between slow, melodic death metal type figures, to mid paced heavy metal patterns (these dudes definitely love their Metallica), to more black metal sections (albeit black metal in it's most relaxed form), to doomy bits. Sure, it's pretty much all "mid tempo and melodic" but they really stretch that formula as much as possible.

Having said that, while the sound is hard to pigeonhole, it's not terribly exciting. The dudes in Ekklesiast have some good ideas, but the thing as a whole just never really gets the pulse racing or the head banging. I certainly found my attention lagging throughout this album; and if it wasn't for the occaisonal genuine tempo change like the crushing doom parts in "Stars of the Sky" (probably the best song here, with some excellent Candlemass influence) you'd just drift away completely.

It's the tempo that's to blame (and the wholly unnecessary 74 minute running time). Sure, adding in a tempo change brings all sorts of songwriting/coherency type problems to the fore... but in that weird, nebulous genre known as "death/doom" it's pretty much a requirement. There's a lot of My Dying Bride influence here and often I can't help but feel how much better this material would be if those guys did it- sure it wouldn't flow as well, but there'd be a few tempo changes, a few much faster bits and the occaisonal slow, despondent section with just a guitar ringing out. I guess you could also point a finger at the drummer- he's not bad, but sort of helps this album into the obscurity that's probably destined for it. More energy, and in many moments, less energy from the drummer would be well appreciated. He meanders throughout and doesn't really mix up the snare at all.. no half time or double time, just the same weary plod. It's all about the dynamics.. screw them up at your own peril.

I hope these guys give us another release soon-ish.. There's a lot of potential here that's as yet untapped. The leads that occasional sprint off and rise above the meandering rhythm guitars are great, the song structures somewhat atypical, the riffs a healthy mix of a large amount of different influences. It's just that this way too long and for the most part drags on one tempo. Meanders far too much, I guess (almost as much as this review, you may say). Not really worth listening too; hopefully future albums by these guys are a bit more lively.