OCTOBER TIDE
Rain Without End
(Vic Records)
78:41min

When we dig in the vaults of mighty Vic Records, there are three outputs, which stand out in their history. The debut EP of KATATONIA “Jhva Elohim Meth… The Revival” was their very first release in 1993 and has set the bar very high, when it comes to quality. The second one is maybe their most poular one, even though it got directly licensed to Nuclear Blast, who released HAMMERFALL’s debut “Glory To The Brave” in 1997. The last one in the row is the debut of OCTOBER TITDE, entitled “Rain Without End”, which was released in 1997 as well. But do we speak about OCTOBER TIDE or maybe about another release by KATATONIA as this is the only album to feature Jonas Renkse on drums and vocals. After that, Jonas only appeared on their second album but handed over the vocal duties to Marten Hansen. Already recorded with Dan Swanö at Unisound in 1995, the material must be from the period 1994 to 1995, when KATATONIA released “For Funerals To Come” and struggled getting a constant line-up and proper label support. Songwriting wise this album was always the missing link in the KATATONIA history and definitely is on the same level of quality and Frederik Norman later joined KATATONIA as well before he left KATATONIA and resurrected OCTOBER TIDE in 2010. Well, for me “Rain Without End” is the logical continuation of “Dance Of December Souls”. The opening track ’12 Days Of Rain’ is one of the best Death / Doom tracks ever written. The distorted down tuned guitars, the slow drumming, paired with the fine keyboards and the tangy, intense growls of Jonas really make this track so outstanding that every Death / Doom fan should check out this majestic piece of art. Guitar wise this is maybe the closest track to KATATONIA and could easily have fitted onto “For Funerals To Come”. Every autumn season, mostly starting October since back in the days, I start with this outstanding track and album. ‘Ephemeral’ continues the same way and offers another strong track with a memorable strong lead melody. All strong trademarks of KATATONIA and their creative peak were also included here. The melody is so brilliant and warm that it is hardly possible to write such epic songs nowadays. The track’s name ‘All Painted Cold‘ says and answers everything. It works so perfectly together with the first two tracks. ‘Slightless’ is not less intense and impresses with its changes in tempo and the breaks in the songs. Also Jonas’ drumming is very good here and again the keyboard melody catches you before the next break takes you deeper onto the journey through the dark. ‘Losing Tomorrow’ was one the first approaches of Jonas to sing clean and a small hint, in which direction KATATONIA would develop their style in the coming years like on their EP “Saw You Drown”. ‘Blue Gallery’ is the oldest track on the album which also appeared on their “Promo 1995”. The track is far rawer in the beginning but offers the melodic trademarks and definitely is the closest one to the material on “Dance Of December Souls” with far more Death / Doom vibes in the guitars. The last of the seven tracks, ‘Infinite Submission’, is also rawer when It comes to the vocals and guitar wise again close to their debut and “For Funerals To Come” with some cool Power Metal guitars and a fine lead melody at the end. The right soundtrack for autumn season, cold winter nights or when a loved one passed away. Mixwise I have cleary concentrated on the remaster from 2008 as Dan Swanö refined and perfected his own work on that. Where the original mix lacked of dynamic and density, the remaster offered everything the material was longing for. Stick to that version and all is fine even though it is a nice deal from Vic Records to release both versions on one CD. In total the album had three front covers over the years. Original cover artwork, remastered CD artwork and remastered vinyl artwork. Even though all three were fine and the cover of the remastered CD really nailed it, I always preferred the original cover art, you can now find on this re-release and I hope for a vinyl re-release of that as well, which just got teased by Vic Records. This would leave me happy and I would mark the vinyl to be played as well on my funeral’s party. The only little thing I am missing is ‘To Die From Strength’ from their “Promo 1995”. This would have been an ultimate gift as a bonus track as this one was not available anywhere else. But let’s wait for the next re-release in 20 years. For more info about this fine re-release, please check the following sites: www.facebook.com/octobertideband, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063485232579

Michael Kujawska

Michael Kujawska

OCTOBER TIDE
Rain Without End
(Vic Records)
39:13min

There had been a wonderful time when the Swedish Metal scene was not completely dominated by the new way of Swedish Death Metal (IN FLAMES, SOILWORK) and bands like KATATONIA, OPHTHALAMIA (with additional Black Metal influences) and also OCTOBER TIDE could show the Metal world that melancholy wasn’t completely restricted to the rainy Britannia. So the re-release of the first OCTOBER TIDE album is like a call out of the tomb and I have to confess that more than one smile has touched my face during listening to this release. The album had made a long journey before somebody realized the quality of the side project of two KATATONIA members (Fredrik Norrman, Jonas Renske) and Vic records finally released "Rain Without End" in 1997, two years after the recording session at Unisound, Sweden. The first release had been strictly limited (and in these days a limited edition was worth to be called such) to 1000 copies but honestly speaking the cover was really poor and the new edition is offering next to a re-mastered sound by Mr. Dan Swanö a much more suitable cover artwork. The seven songs are musically deeply routed in the KATATONIA "Dance Of The December Souls" world which is no surprise taking into account that their guitar duo has searched for a further place of action. The major musical trademarks are, next to the great Death vocals, the really passionate use of the guitars (on the normal and the acoustic front). The atmosphere is still – even after the remastering – so extremely convincing that after listening to the first song (’12 Days Of Rain’) everybody will realize the time of the recording. I really tried to avoid "the good old times" term but the Swedish scene had changed drastically within the last 10-15 years that such an album seems not possible these days. But OCTOBER TIDE unfortunately survived only a handful of Swedish winters. After the release of their debut they switched to Avantgarde and recorded "Grey Dawn" (their second album) but shortly after the release the band split up to concentrate on their major musical projects (BLOODBATH; KATATONIA). "Rain Without End" is maybe not the best melodic Death Metal album of all times but nevertheless a piece of Swedish Metal history and without a doubt a great release with some extra points from my side for the good old Swedish Metal times. www.vicrecords.com

Matthias Auch

Matthias Auch

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