Swallow the Sun - Plague of Butterflies (2008)

I found out about these guys from a radio sampler a friend of mine sent me. It had a bunch of crap on it like Motorhead and Clutch, so I wasn't expecting much, but I listened to it all, and Swallow the Sun's "Losing the Sunsets" from this album really impressed me. So when I saw this 60-minute EP for $9 while getting birthday gifts for my wife (Lacuna Coil and UnSun), I picked it up. I've listened to it a few times, and I'm not as impressed as I was, but it's still a pretty good disc.

This album consists of 1new 35-minute track (broken into three parts) and an unreleased demo from 2003. The new song is much more impressive, reminding me most of Shape of Despair, but faster and mixing some almost black metal elements in. Their demo is a little rawer, more in the style of mid-90's doom/death like Crematory, and reminding me of the slow sections of Amorphis' The Karelian Isthmus. It's a pretty decent offering, but I'm pleased with the direction they've taken.

You can check out the title track from the demo and an edit of the title track of the EP on their MySpace page.