Ea - II
Solitude Productions
Epic Funeral Doom
2 songs (47'27")
Release year: 2009
Solitude Productions
Reviewed by Adam
One of the more mysterious metal bands ever to exist, the overly enigmatic Ea have returned with a second album that amazingly offers even less insight into the band than their solid debut Ea Taesse. This album, entitled simply II, has no song titles. In fact, the liner notes only contain the information, repeated from the first album, that this band is based on a sacral text of a dead language recovered from an archaeological study. What has also remained largely the same is the sound and atmosphere of the band. II may not advance or improve upon the sound of Ea Taesse, but it is still a solid slab of funeral doom.

Like the first album, II is meant to be listened to from beginning to end, in one sitting. There are two untitled “tracks”, and though there is a tangible pause when one gives way to the other, this album still works best as one long and epic funeral doom suite. The one new wrinkle that jumped out at me the most is that the overall sound feels far more romanticized than last time. By that I mean that there are more piano passages and slowly unfurling guitar leads. This leads to a more epic and expansive sound, but I prefer the suffocating and more desolate approach of Ea Taesse to be honest. That’s not to say that II is bad, far from it, but this style just doesn’t work as well for the band in my opinion. Vocals are once again very sparse, their guttural tone serving merely to advance the cold atmosphere. There are a few new sounds used to great effect, including some eerie water drops, and a creaky dungeon-esque noise. The dungeon sound is probably the point that I found the strongest on the album, as it is followed by a howling wind sound coupled with an unsettling bell toll, which eventually gives way to by far the deepest and heaviest riff to be found here. The problem is that moments like this are not as abundant as they were on the previous album, and in turn I found there to be more plodding and unspectacular passages that just make the album feel longer.

I won’t deny feeling a wee bit of disappointment when I wasn’t as initially blown away by II as I was by Ea Taesse, but, after giving it some repeated listens and time to sink in, I feel that it is still one of the stronger funeral doom albums you will find this year. I do hope that Ea add a bit more of the empty feeling of their first album to go along with the epic nature of their music, but I guess I should just expect the unexpected, especially from a band as purposefully vague as this one.
Killing Songs :
Same as last time, this album is one long killing song
Adam quoted 76 / 100
Other albums by Ea that we have reviewed:
Ea - Au Ellai reviewed by Kyle and quoted 88 / 100
Ea - Ea Taesse reviewed by Adam and quoted 86 / 100
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