Ekklesiast



2003 - Cold

Official Site

Reviews:

Metal Rewiews
(january 2007)
(73/100)

Creativity, as well as the will to test the boundaries of their sound, are two qualities that endear a band to me. I enjoy hearing a band that really sounds like they want to offer me something fresh and exciting, as opposed to borrowing from a generally accepted formula. Russian band Ekklesiast have this quality in spades. Their newest album Cold, their debut effort on Solitude Productions, is an amalgam of doomdeath, gothic metal, and even thrash. Not a conventional combination by any means, but it appears that this band wants to be known as anything but conventional.

The album begins with Flower of Dismay, and it is immediately apparent that this is not an average doom outfit. A clean guitar intro is joined by a slow-pace guitar chunk, made to appear even slower by the odd drumming. Actually, I really felt that the drums were a little underused on this song. There were moments that I really found myself getting into it, particularly in the clean portions where the male/female vocal duet of Alexandr Senin and Luba Medvedeva really shine. However, there were a few overly abrupt changes in pace that make the song seem too pieced together. After this song, I did not expect much from the remainder of the album, but I was pleasantly surprised with the next song, Microcosmos. The speed is heightened significantly, and the star production work of bassist Artyom Dolina is showcased in the guitar sound that is at the same time both full enough to sound professional, yet distorted enough to give the song a frenzied feel. Also, Senin’s layered growls sound near perfect accompanied once again by Medvedeva’s soft background cry. This momentum is only heightened by Release from Reveries, which utilizes the same frantic guitar pace as its predecessor, while adding more clean guitar breaks and dynamic drums.

Actually, it was while listening to this song that a notion occurred to me. Though it may sound strange coming from a doom fan such as myself, Ekklesiast sounds a great deal better when they speed up the pace. When things are slowed down to normal doomdeath pace, the drums of Ferki Vidishichi seem unsure of their place, and sound a bit disjointed. In contrast, they sound more than adequate while keeping time for a faster affair such as Microcosmos.

Back to the album, where Medvedeva makes her last guest appearance on the magnificent Turning to Ice, which smartly makes use of both distorted and clean guitar riffs that somehow appear to always be descending. There is even a solo of sorts thrown in at the end. Eyes of Alien Worlds opens with a very thrash-influenced take on doom, which sounds interesting if you’re a fan of both genres as I am. I applauded how, just as it seemed the repetition of the opening riff was becoming a bit much, they change things up with about a minute left. This act alone turned a possibly mediocre song into a very good one. Flame of Desires introduces a different side of the band, as we are treated to an opening, and closing, display that could easily be referred to as “spaced out psychedelic”. The same riff is morphed into a distorted monster with positive results. In retrospect, this song contains the best guitar display on Cold. The peaceful, acoustic guitar interlude, Seasons, segues to Destiny’s End, and I must say at this point, this album is getting better with each song. The main riff is darkly empowering, and the calm clean guitar passages transition with the distorted mayhem of the majority of the song much better than they did towards the beginning of the album. This Earth Without Us, largely follows the same formula, with the acoustic guitars sounding very harp-like. The final track, Step to Eternity, does not do much for me, primarily because the lead guitar, which is the focal point of a good portion of the song, just sounds too improvised.

I really enjoyed this album; I just felt it was a bit hodgepodge. I would like to see Ekklesiast focus more on the faster doomdeath sound they use primarily. I always appreciate bands who try to incorporate unique aspects into their sound, even if they don’t always pan out. I would say that Ekklesiast is the most creative band on the Solitude Productions roster. They are simply a young band searching for the perfect formula for their sound. They didn’t quite get it with Cold, but they are getting close.

Reviewed by: Adam

Metal Only
(december 2006)

Sometimes the Internet is to more use than usual. This was something I once again realized after getting the third album “Cold” from the Russian doom/death metal band EKKLESIAST to review. Without the Internet I wouldn\'t even have been able to figure out the name of this band, since my knowledge in Cyrillic alphabet is non-existent and my knowledge in Russian isn\'t something to be particularly proud of either.

After hearing the opening song “Flower Of Dismay”, which is a very calm and harmonic song with a soft use of both the guitars and the drums and moody vocal performances by the bands vocalist and a female guest vocalist, the listener get a really explosive weak up with “Microcosmos”. Here the death metal influences comes charging in with a crash and takes over much of the quiet doom atmosphere that was created at the beginning of the album. The tempo goes through the roof and EKKLESIAST turns out to be moor of a melodic death metal band with doom metal elements than the other way around. These doom elements takes the shape of calmer moments incorporated into the song material and have at times almost a progressive feel to them. After the first time listening through the album is was a bit doubtful to this combination, or maybe rather the way the band has decided to combine these different elements, but the truth is that this album has grown after each time I\'ve listened to it and it still keeps on growing. The song material is very rich in variation and shows an impressive strength in the ability to capture the listeners interest with its movements between calm atmospheric pieces and pure bursts of raw energy. The vocals consists for most parts of growls, but on three of the songs there is also a female vocalist present, which gives even more variation to the bands already variation rich sound. A cool detail with the vocals is that many of the songs on the album are sung in Russian, which is quite uncommon to hear.

Despite my first doubts about the album it has tuned out that “Cold” is a really strong album and EKKLESIAST impresses with both a really strong song material and a great performance. This is an album that will appeal to fans of both death metal and doom metal and turns out to be one of those albums that just becomes better and better each time you listen to it.

Reviewed by: Janne

Morbid Tales
(november 2006)

Alright, I am a fan of traditional doom just to warn you guys and this album is not a genre I am very knowledgeable about. Of course, I will review it the best I can! Anyway, this album has a total dark, gloomy and beautifully sad vibe to it. I would consider it more of a mix of different styles They are quite original; the album goes from deep, almost folk-like acoustic melodies, to dark death metal. Almost all the lyrics are sung in Russian by a man and a woman (her vocals fit really well on this, do not be scared). I think it sounds quite exotic and mysterious to my ears... one thing I really don t like about this album is the totally Photoshop-made cover and the logo; they don t match the feeling that is found in the CD, in my opinion. So anyway, like I said, I am not too familiar with this style of metal, but I remember hearing old Katatonia and My Dying Bride, and I think it should attract fans of these bands.

Reviewed by: Satannick

Tartarean Desire
(november 2006)
(7,5/10)

The first track may suggest a doom metal inspired by the classic English bands but that thought flees when “Microcosm” and its uptempo pace hits the ears of the listener. It?s a track of progressive melodic death metal with plenty of aggression and good taste. The album keeps on running, and here we can enjoy a varied doom death metal. Hmmm, I?d rather choose “death doom” instead, since the death metal element is bigger than the slow pounding one... At this point it?s impossible to avoid the name of Opeth when quoting Ekklesiast?s influences. “Opeth again...” will think some people, hey, what else can I do, if the way that band has combined melody and death metal has meant such a big influence to millions of acts? Anyway, it?s clear these Russians don?t try to imitate Peter Lindgren and Mikael ?kerfeldt shamefully. However, those tranquil accoustic passages where the guitars weave delicate phrases while the drums play uptempo paces, or the colours of a lot of melodies bear the Opeth name deeply carved. Alexander Senin?s growls are also very similar to Mikael (while the clean vocals are not that good...). There is a wide range of rhythms and a broad technical songmaking so this album is quite entertaining. If the mentioned “Microcosm” is fast and frenzied, others as “Plamya Zhelanij” are doomy tunes with a nice groove. Non-metal elements are the girl who sings from time to time, using a tragic tone that fits certainly well in the songs, and accoustic guitars that emanate directly from bands like Camel and other 70?s prog bands. Definitely, these guys have competent musicianship and nice ideas to offer to the world.

Reviewed by: Fjordi

Metal Observer
(october 2006)
(7/10)

EKKLESIAST has been around for a while now, since 1994 to be precise, but have only really released studio albums since 2001. “Holod” is their third full-length studio album and their debut on Solitude Productions. They seem to like to change their sound between songs, making it difficult for me to pin down a genre. Oh, Doom is certainly at the fore, but let’s take a look at the first three songs to understand this variety: “Tsvetok Trevogi” is Doom with some Alternative influences, maybe sort of like mid-period ANATHEMA, while “Mikrokosm” is a withered Black Metal piece and “Release From Reveries,” though distinctly Doom-Death, has a faster tempo than you’d expect.

There’s a certain amount of class to this release, especially in the largely acoustic Alterna-Doom songs (the aforementioned “Tsvetok Trevogi,” “Prevraschchayas’ V Lyod”), which also feature guest female vocals. Unfortunately, when they decide to get heavier, they lose some of their ability to keep the listener interested. Though you can tell that they have some good ideas when you stop and listen to it really hard, if you just let the album play without the extra work on your part it comes across as terribly generic. It definitely has some promise and I’d like to hear the unique elements brought more to the fore on future releases.

That said, I think that bigger Doom fans than I could get a lot more out of this release. I really appreciated that the Doom-Death parts had a faster tempo than you’re average Doom-Death songs, yet maintained their distinct Doom identity. Unfortunately, EKKLESIAST itself has some problems establishing its own identity beyond that. Good for a few listens, but I doubt I’ll find the promo returning to my CD player all that often. (Online October 1, 2006)

Reviewed by: Keith Stevens

Power Play Records
(march 2006)
(7.8/10)

Ekklesiast comes from Russia and "Cold" is their latest release. It is three years old but believe me you will be surprised by the music from these guys. First of all you will hear that some of the songs are in their mother language and this is a magic feeling at least in my ears.

For sure the first time that you hear the band sing in their mother language it will be a little bit strange, but when the music starts to flow then you will adore it. Also i believe that it could be easier in order to understand the whole concept to have the English translation in the booklet. Anyway, the album begins with a very melodic, melancholic slow track, with male and some female vocals.

As we will continue to hear the album from Ekklesiast the band seems to have influences from My Dying Bride and Katatonia. Also their compositions are well worked, with some interesting ideas. I have the idea, that if we had a more massive and heavy production then the final result would be almost excellent. Maybe in their next step they will be more focus in all the sections in order to have a better result.

Reviewed by: Antonis Maglaras

BURNING BLACK MAGAZINE:

EKKLESIAST – Cold (Independent): This obscure and poetic band comes from Russia, they play an original melodic, melancholic, Doom Metal, the first song “Flower Of Dismay ” (translated) reminds me mid period Anathema (The Silent Enigma), with acoustic guitars, male/female clean melancholic vocals, this song is special, introspective, low and soft. But then comes a storm of heaviness mixed with balanced acoustic breaks and a guttural voice, sometimes ala Aaron (My Dying Bride), with some females vocals, but not another Theatre Of Tragedy clone, the voices here are not a dialog, are a complement, the female voice at background gives a special “taste” to the guttural ones. There is diversity of tempos; mid to fast, mid to slow. This album has a great rocking feeling, just listen “Turning to Ice” (translated), comparable, inevitably, with their country mates Mental Home, but also some Black Metal influences sometimes. The songs are sung in Russian, which gives an extra point of originality, I never heard a band singing in Russian (unless clearly), and the pronunciation underlay perfectly with the music. The album’s total running time exceeds the 50 minutes (…a little, 24 seconds) and I think is too short, this album should reach the eternity!!. The sound is just perfect, great production, excellent cover art! There’s nothing more to say. Just get it, and will know what I’m talking about.

Reviewed by: Alvaro Pacheco

Doom-metal.com

This Russian band plays a sympathetic mixture of various melodic dark/doom metal styles. Fans of bands like Katatonia, My Dying Bride and Anathema will without any doubt recognize many of the typical characteristics of their favourite bands: harmonic, melancholic guitar leads, beautiful acoustic intermezzi, and a careful balancing out of male/female clean vox, spoken parts and deep grunts are some of the familiar elements that can be found in this record. However, Ekklesiast don't just copy their idols.

The band don't hesitate to speed up here and there, incorporating some more aggressive, menacing metal parts that fit very well with the rest of the music, which is definitely a bonus in this otherwise quite tame genre. Another plus point are the Russian lyrics, which bring an extra exotic dimension to the sound of this melancholic congregation.

All in all this is a well-crafted, balanced work that deserves to be heard by fans of melodic dark metal.

Reviewed by: Kostas Panagiotou

Black Minds 'Zine:

(9/10)

I've been thinking for some time about how to start the review, and after all I decided to say directly - this is the best Russian doom-release in last 5 years! Since "Mirrorland" by Mental Home I never heard anything as engraved upon my heart as this one. Plus the fact that even before haveing the promo copy I managed to get... pirate version of the CD! Neither me, nor the bandmembers could get it how it was released. But the point that pirates are eager to release the band before the official date suggests that the band worths hearing. Anyways, "Kholod (Cold)" should be considered as very precious thing on the Russian scene as Ekklesiast now can be fairly named one of the leaders of Russian doom movement. They finally get rid of all their disadvantages of previous albums and present excellent release of european level. Designed in gloomy dark colours it consists of 10 very pathetic tracks, recorded so perfect that one truly should envy. Sound quality is perfect! And I'd like to bow down to the ground for Artyom Dolina for what he did in the studio. As for the music itself, the band didn't retreat from doom metal ideals, but this time it sounds more acoustic, clean, sometimes even turn to stoner. I can't but praise them, because flat guitar droning have already plagued me to death. Vocal is not a whining one, which occasionally can be heard from some bands, but really grave, sometimes cruel and entirelly expressing the lyrics. Such a magnificent alloy of emotional and sensual content hardly сan be met. After all, if you have always been eager to learn how Anathema and Black Sabbath could played at one scene in, say it, '73 and feeling proud for Russian at that, so this is superfine. Definitive verdict: highly reccomended by Black Minds!

Reviewed by: Kinder

Doom-metal.com

Ekklesiast's latest release, sees them sticking to their style of straightfoward death/doom, however, also adding some new, and interesting elements to the mix... including acoustic guitar, and female vocals. Once again, all of the songs are sung in Russian, except for 'Step To Eternity', which is in English.

The first thing which is evident, is that the band have softened up their sound considerably on this album, what with the addition of acoustic passages, and female vocals. This works very well, and gives nice breaks to the usual death/doom. They've also sped up a little bit, and some black metal elements can be heard in some songs... especially the track 'Microcosmos'.

My main complaint about the last album, the lack of originality, is certainly not a factor here. The songs on 'Cold' do not have a 'been there, done that' feel to them... in fact, they are all quite original, and interesting. The various additions, have certainly spiced the music up... and I found myself looking forward to each new track, wondering what I was going to hear next.

So, if you're a fan of straightfoward death/doom, get '...When The Dead Boughs Will Awake From The Dreams' first, then pick this disc up. However, if you would prefer something more varied, and softer, skip the first release, in favour of this one.

Reviewed by: Matt Zuchowski