Rapture
Futile
Spikefarm, 2000

Rapture is a band from Finland, featuring members from Thy Serpent and Shape Of Despair. Their debut effort, Futile, offers melancholic metal presented in rock-based structural formats, with simplistic rhythms, weeping guitar melodies, and semi-death metal vocals, occasionally offset by sleepy, disconsolate clean singing. This musical concept will be a familiar one to those acquainted with Katatonia’s 1996 album, Brave Murder Day, a work that the members of Rapture were clearly inspired by during the creative process for their first release. Indeed, it seems quite impossible for anyone who has heard Brave Murder Day even once to not be reminded of it numerous times throughout the listening experience of Futile. Nevertheless, despite its complete lack of originality, the quality of this music shines through in emotional expression and atmospheric brilliance. Rapture have taken Katatonia’s formula and nailed it to such an extent that it often rivals their Swedish idols in execution and delivery.

"Early morning rain
An eternal sleepless 4 a.m.
Waking up to silence
Into a slow grey whatever"

Operating from a minimalist position towards song-structure, Rapture exercise sensations with the "less is more" approach established to elegant result in the early works of Katatonia. The drum work is similarly straightforward, acting as nothing more than foundational currents shifting from up-tempo rock-based simple drumming, to slower beats often peppered with tasteful yet subtle embellishments, though the sound of the kit loses a bit of power in the otherwise thick and clear production. Over this firm rhythmical base, repetitious riffs in cyclical motion drive each composition, while melancholic guitar melodies glide above. These sorrowful melodies, inspired heavily by early Katatonia and Paradise Lost, are implemented brilliantly, appealing to the emotional core of the listener and providing this music with a richness of beauty that is a rare encounter. Witness the descending/ascending melodies during the chorus of "To Forget", as well as the title track, "This Is Where I Am" and the midnight metal-rock closer "(About) Leaving" for evidence of the splendid employment of these elegantly mournful guitar melodies. Rapture are highly skilled in the art of emotional dynamic. There are moments when this music sweeps over the listener in waves of beautiful melancholia, as in the build-ups succeeding the acoustic guitar sections during "Futile" and "(About) Leaving)", and the excellent emotional atmospheres of "Someone I (Don’t) Know", which shifts from somber contemplation to despair-ridden anger in a fashion recalling Katatonia’s "Rainroom". The vocals are serviceable, while lacking a bit of character. At times the harsh vocals come off sounding slightly forced. When not sounding forced, these vocals manage to get the point across, but not in the convincing and distinct manner of a Jonas Renske or Mikael Akerfeldt. It is the astounding implementation and execution of mournful guitar melodies that serve as the band’s strength and ultimately supply this music with its emotional wealth. The music, even when charged, portrays grey-blue atmospheres of rainy day isolation where the outside world becomes meaningless and hopeless, and all that remains is a bitter sadness for the futility of it all.

"Tearing me from my waking hours
Is the sweet misery
Of a dark day"

In the end, the appeal of this album will largely depend on how much value the listener places on innovation/originality in art. If the listener places a high value on innovation/originality in art despite its quality of performance, Futile will come across as nothing but a complete ripoff of another band’s formula (in this case, Katatonia). However, if the listener values quality of presentation and communication of emotional relevance over uniqueness of ideas, and additionally hungers for something (very) similar to Brave Murder Day, Futile will provide many rewards. Few bands have tried their talents at Katatonia’s melancholic metal minimalism despite its seemingly simplistic formula, mostly because this particular concept allows little opportunity for expansion before it is transformed into something other than what it was, and also because regardless of how competent the mechanics are, it is essentially the emotional realism of this music that transcends all technicalities, and this cannot be replicated, only truly felt. Rapture have employed these ideas while not attempting to expand on them, instead offering their own interpretation of the previously established concept, and have succeeded were others (Blazing Eternity, Forest Stream, Daylight Dies) have fallen short.

9/21/06

1. Intro
2. To Forget
3. This Is Where I Am
4. The Fall
5. While The World Sleeps
6. Futile
7. Someone I (Don’t) Know
8. (About) Leaving

Rapture
Songs For The Withering
Spikefarm, 2002

In the attempt to expand their sound parameters beyond the Brave Murder Day fixation of Futile, Rapture’s second release, Songs For The Withering, finds the band slightly varying song-structures while relying less on the sweeping melancholic guitar melodies that served as the strength of the debut. A second vocalist has been welcomed in to deliver "clean" singing, of which there is significantly more of than on the band’s first effort. The result of these mild variations is a sound that not only still reminds heavily of mid-era Katatonia, but now of latter-day Katatonia, as well as late-90s Anathema, mostly during the more contemplative moments.

Vocally, the band have come up with some sweetly somber harmonies by using the clean singing of Petri as harmonic interplay with and offset to Henri's growls, most notably during hooks and choruses of "Transfixion" and "Raintracks". "Two Dead Names" and "The Vast" forsake the growls in favor of Petri's dispiriting singing intermingling with sad melodies of clean guitars drifting into walls of weeping riffs. These tracks, along with sections within "Enveloped" and closing instrumental "Farewell" present an introspection of sound that only briefly appeared on Futile ("Someone I (Don’t) Know" and "While The World Sleeps"). The growls of Henri are again hit and miss when it comes to delivering a desired emotional point convincingly. This is most evident during the verses of "Nameless", where Henri growls over a throbbing rhythm free of guitars. This sounds clumsy and entirely un-atmospheric which works against what this band’s music aims for. Elsewhere, these vocals are effective mostly when mingling with the clean singing, or when executed over driving dark metal tracks like "Gallows". Even when these vocals, both clean and growled, are at their best, they are devoid of any real character, and are rendered only serviceable while occasionally blending to establish beauty.

"Before the last breath - inhale
before the final death - exhale"

Structurally, the songs are again reliant on simplistic rhythms and traditional rock-song format, though this is somewhat expanded here, mostly through diversity of textures and the broader realm of ambience the band are allowed with a second vocalist. The sound is massive, with all instruments granted a clear and powerful place in the sound. At times the guitars create walls of static sound while sorrowful leads of melodic splendor glide above. This is brilliantly employed during "Enveloped", "Raintracks", and "Transfixion", in which glorious guitar melodies fall like coldest rain on evenings of late-Autumn tranquility. These transcendent moments present Rapture at their strength, yet this album offers fewer such moments than the debut.

Songs For The Withering is an inconsistent work. "Transfixion", "Raintracks", "Gallows", Two Dead Names" and "Enveloped" each offer instantly endearing melodies and dark, emotional atmospheres on par with their first album. However, the remainder of the album ranges from mediocre to weak, with much of this portion clearly suffering from self-consciousness as the band attempt to escape from the Katatonia-clone identity created by Futile. "The Vast" and "The Great Distance" are injured by weak vocal phrases/delivery and un-engaging melodies, "Nameless" is mostly awkward save for the almost-there choruses, and the instrumental "Farewell" fails to close out the album in the grand style it hoped to achieve, offering a promising melodic/emotional idea at the start, before falling short of expanding upon it in the crushing misery-towards-serenity thematic its early whispers hinted at, instead retreating into its own hollowness. The beautiful flow of melancholia that Futile delivered is disrupted here by these poorly imagined and developed ideas. If Rapture sincerely wants to make albums of atmospheric consistency and emotional captivation, they need to forget about how their sound is perceived by critics and remain sensitive to their inner voice.

9/24/06

1. Nameless
2. Gallows
3. Two Dead Names
4. Transfixion
5. The Vast
6. Raintracks
7. Enveloped
8. The Great Distance
9. Farewell

Rapture
Silent Stage
Spikefarm, 2005

Rapture’s third album, Silent Stage, largely follows the approach presented on previous effort, Songs For The Withering, while faintly revealing an identity of sound that could define their character as a band. Influences of Katatonia and Anathema remain prominent throughout the material, yet there is an inner voice that whispers elements of individuality during certain passages. Song-structures remain centered on and driven by melodic hooks and streamlined yet powerful rhythms, while acoustic guitars and keyboards provide atmospherical dynamics. Vocals are again split between deep growls and dejected, melodic singing. The production is again massive, crystal clear, and powerful.

Rapture

Spinefarm/Spikefarm

Rapture Discography

Futile (Spikefarm, 2000)
Songs For The Withering (Spikefarm, 2002)
Silent Stage (Spikefarm, 2005)