*Artist: Swallow the Sun
*Year: 2008*Genre: Melodic Death/Doom Metal*Country: Finland 
*Format: mp3@VBR217kbps*Size: 98MBTracklist: 1. Swallow the Sun - Plague Of Butterflies (34:42) 2. Swallow the Sun - Through Her Silvery Body (8:01) 3. Swallow the Sun - Out Of This Gloomy Light (5:34) 4. Swallow the Sun - Swallow (5:27) 5. Swallow the Sun - Under The Waves (6:36)******************************Total playing time: 1:00:20Swallow the Sun is the brain child of one Juha Raivio, formed in early 2000. Their sound of choice is distinctly doom metal, at times reaching the unbearably slow pace of funeral doom. Yet, Swallow the Sun’s approach to the genre is definitively melodic, fusing the crushing heaviness of doom with the more modern melodic death metal sound. Throw in a sprinkle of black metal and you have a recipe for excellence, and Plague of Butterflies, the most recent release by these Finnish madmen, delivers! Plague of Butterflies is a MCD that contains the mammoth 35 minute epic title track, in addition to the band’s original demo “Out Of This Gloomy Night.” Naturally the main draw of this release is the new material, and it does not disappoint. Beginning with ambient sounds of wind and nature, the title track takes the listener on a massive voyage that experiments with everything from the soft, melodious acoustic sounds the band has been known to delve into, to the brutal, dark, extremeness that characterizes the bulk of their sound. The song flows beautifully, no passage being merely transitional, every segment complete and individual, yet intrinsically linked to the what came before and what will come. Given the length of the song, the main downside to this release is the necessity of the listener to devote significant time to not only listen to, but to absorb the track in its entirety. There is a lot going on, and all of it is good. It is a rare an exciting achievement for a group to be able to construct a song of such porportions and retain the attention of the listener, much less keep them interested. Plague of Butterflies does this and more. 
*Artist: In Vain
