Review by Sonny for Rapture (FIN) - Futile (1999)

Rapture are yet another melodic death doom band I have been aware of but not listened to until now. I have often seen them compared to Katatonia, a band I can either take or leave, so that's probably why I haven't been too rigorous in checking them out up to this point, especially as I prefer my death doom to be of the filthy, old-school kind rather than the melody-driven style employed by Katatonia et al.

I must admit that I found the first couple of tracks a bit lacklustre, but when the riff to This Is Where I Am kicked in then I felt much more comfortable. It sounds very much like early Opeth with a doom vibe (I had to check the album information just to make sure it definitely wasn't Mikael Akerfeldt on vocals) and that certainly is not a bad thing, this comparison also feeling appropriate for next track The Fall by which point I am very much more invested in this. These two tracks are fairly uptempo when taken in the context of the death doom sound, but are where the band sound strongest to me and along with the title track are the album's high water mark. Unfortunately, when the band try to infuse their songwriting with a bit more subtlety they seem to lose momentum and just feel a bit weak, as illustrated by the massive drop-off from Futile to the frankly sappy Someone I (Don't) Know and so I much prefer the tracks with the more muscular riffing which are mostly concentrated around the middle of the album.

I can certainly hear why Rapture are held in high regard within the melodic death doom community, as there is no doubt, even to my ears, that they are very accomplished both as songwriters and performers, their music effectively utilising the contrasts of light and dark. But as any rating I dole out has got to be subjective and a reflection of my own personal enjoyment then I am unable to give it the highest of marks as there are parts I personally didn't enjoy, despite there objectively being nothing wrong with them. In fact reading this review back it sounds more negative than I intended, because I really enjoyed the more uptempo (and darker?) tracks, This Is Where I Am, The Fall, Futile and the excellent closer (About) Leaving but the rest I found somewhat forgettable I'm afraid.