Band:	Ea
Album:	Ea Taesse
Style:	Funeral doom metal
Release date:	December 20, 2006
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Laeleia
02. Mea Ta Souluola
03. Ea Taesse

Quite often I get my hands on a band from Russia (if these are Russians anyway), there seem to be quite many things going on in terms of metal , especially in the most atmospheric side of it. I have to admit that not every band is awesome from that part of the earth, yet whenever a russian act succeeds in terms of what they want to present etc, it's not just good, it's even better. The mystical band Ea (which is promoted as one using an ancient civilization's dead yet recreated by archeologists language or something) is one of those that have something to say, moving in funeral doom soundscapes.

Ea Taesse is their first work (the first of a trilogy as well) and it was released during 2006 and despite the cold (nevermind the recent heat holocaust) these unknown Russians tend to evoke quite a warm feeling through their funeral doom compositions and that's what makes them more… alive! Like on the hallucinating "Mea Ta Souluola". The most important part in their music is the use of keyboards and various sounds that appear here and there, like the ethereal vocal-seeming (although some very limited real ones appear as well) passages or the bells on the title-track. After all, almost anybody can grab a guitar and play slow heavy riffs on which a deep grunting or more tortured screaming voice can step, but still, it's in the way you manage to fulfill it and the emotions that come forth.

The ambiance here evokes a floating devout feeling, almost ecclesiastic at times, until it evolves into more threatening pathways, like a dream slowly transforming into a nightmare. And this is when the lethargic riffing shows its real face, hypnotizing the listener along with the keyboards and the unearthly grunts. One could say Ea's game is treacherous, they seduce the listener with beauty so as to switch on his dream mode and while in the subconscious world of images, nightmare takes its toll, like on "Laeleia".

If what you're searching for is atmospheric funeral doom with magnificent ambiance which is the soul-breathing factor through the body structure (grunts, guitars, rhythm section) then Ea's debut album won't dissapoint you, not at all.