Review by Ben for Katatonia - For Funerals to Come... (1995)

A couple of great tracks in the style of Dance of December Souls, make this EP well worth checking out in some form.

I get the feeling that the members of Katatonia were a little confused back in the mid nineties. After a more than decent death doom metal debut in Dance of December Souls, I’m not sure that these Swedish musicians were all that keen to continue on doing exactly the same thing. The first thing they did after receiving loads of praise for their unique and highly depressive (if not oppressive) sound was consider changing it altogether. In early 1994, they entered Unisound Studio to record a single ten minute track known as Scarlet Heavens. While it still contained a similar guitar sound to earlier material, Scarlet Heavens is pure gothic rock, similar to something that Sisters of Mercy produced back in the eighties. The upbeat drumming, groovy bass and crooning vocals were all a far cry from Dance of December Souls and while it would take many years for this track to finally see the light of day (it was eventually released as part of the split 10” with Primordial in 1996 before also being included on the Saw You Drown EP in 1998), it undoubtedly displayed Katatonia’s willingness to try new things, and their desire to not stagnate. In Spring 1994, Wrong Again records asked the band to contribute to a compilation they were putting together called W.A.R. Compilation Vol. 1 at around the same time that Avantgarde Music offered them a new record deal, convincing them to continue with metal, at least for now.

Armed with a new determination to take Katatonia to the next level, the guys once again entered Unisound in September 1994 to record six new tracks, two of which would end up on W.A.R. Compilation Vol. 1, while the other four would make up the For Funerals to Come EP. While these recordings chronologically split the melody filled, expansive Dance of December Souls album and the hypnotic, effectively repetitive Brave Murder Day, they are much more in the vein of the former than the latter. Even Black Erotica, one of the tracks included on the Wrong Again compilation (along with Love of the Swan), which would be re-recorded for Brave Murder Day as 12, was less about repetition and more about despondent melodies. Anyway, this review is supposed to be about For Funerals to Come, so I’ll get to the point (for once). The short of it is that this is an enjoyable EP that will unquestionably be of value to anyone that enjoys early Katatonia. Both Funeral Wedding and Shades of Emerald Fields in particular include numerous fantastic riffs and melodies, with that sorrowful atmosphere the band have always been renowned for. Listening to these tracks brings to mind Orchid / Morningrise period Opeth, not so much in style (although there are some similarities) as in the way the band throw a constant stream of fresh ideas and techniques at the listener, with no real care for overall composition.

That last statement might sound like a negative, and in the case of early Opeth I think it can be at times, but neither Funeral Wedding nor Shades of Emerald Fields cross the ten minute mark, meaning things don’t get out of hand. The gorgeous lead around the two minute mark and the double bass kicking section around five minutes in make Funeral Wedding the highlight of the two for me. I haven’t mentioned the third or fourth tracks yet simply because they total only four minutes running time, which is one of the reasons I can’t rate this EP any higher. The title track is a nice little atmospheric piece for sure, but closer Epistel is basically just white noise with what I assume is Blackheim doing his best Blaze in the Northern Sky impersonation. Neither really adds much, making For Funerals to Come an interesting yet not completely satisfying release all up. If you want to check it out, I don’t really recommend trying to track down the original EP, as it’s long out of print. You do have the option of purchasing one of the Brave Murder Day versions that includes it as a bonus, but I’ve never thought that was a very suitable way to experience it. You’re better off getting your hands on the Brave Yester Days compilation which not only contains the whole EP, it also includes the aforementioned Scarlet Heavens, Black Erotica and Love of the Swan, making it an invaluable option to any Katatonia fan that doesn’t own all their hard to find early releases.