Ophthalamia - To Elishia (1997) *Swedish BM*

There are five different line ups on here:

I -

Guitars, talk, and whisper: It

Drums: Winter

Bass: Mourning

Vocals: All

II-

Guitars, bass, whispers, and vocals: It

Guitars: Rob

Drums: Winter

Female voices: Aras and Veronica

III-

Guitars - It

Drums - Winter

Bass - Mourning

Vocals - All

IV-

Guitars: It

Drums: Winter

Bass: Night

Vocals: Legion

V-

Guitars: It

Drums: Winter

Bass: Mourning

Vocals: It



Line up I tracks 1, 4, 5, 10 -A Long Journey demo version, 1991

Line up II track 2 - very first recording with the band, 1990

Line up III track 3 - old rehearsal recording, 1991

Line up IV tracks 6, 8, 9 - rehearsal tracks, 1994

Line up V track 5 - Journey to Darkness promo tape version, 1992



1. A Cry From the Halls of Blood / Empire of Lost Dreams 02:26

2. A Lonely Ceremony / The Eternal Walk 05:29

3. Journey in Darkness / Entering the Forest 06:02

4. Castle of No Repair / From a Blackened Heart 04:41

5. Shores of Kaa-Ta-Nu / The Eternal Walk (Part II) 05:39

6. Nightfall of Mother Earth / Summer Distress 10:33

7. Enter the Darkest Thoughts of the Chosen / Agony's Silent Paradise 07:25

8. Deathcrush (Mayhem cover) 03:15

9. Sacrifice (Bathory cover) 03:49

10. I Summon Thee Father / Death Embrace Me 02:12

Total playing time 53:24





Review by Drew Schinzel of chroniclesofchaos.com (8/10)



As far as demo songs pressed onto CD are concerned, let's be honest: they usually suck. Demo sound quality, demo song quality, and a general lack of integrity prevails the majority of the time. Ophthalamia's latest release of blackened doom/death, _To Elishia_, however, is different. Yes, these are demo and rehearsal versions of already released songs, and, indeed, the sound quality, for the most part, does in fact leave much to be desired. But this latest offering from Ophthalamia, the first in a couple of years, and to be followed by two more in the months to come, has a couple of things going for it. First, since Ophthalamia is such a superior band in the first place, just about -any- version of their songs would blow 90% of what is out there out of the water. When I say there is not a song created by IT and company that has appeared on their two previous albums that can be called bad, I mean it, and, as such, none of the songs on _To Elishia_ are of low quality. Second, the bad production (which varies; some songs have very high-end, trebly sound, others almost album quality) sometimes actually helps the feel of the album, creating a raw, edgy sound which fits some of the songs perfectly. Sometimes the production hurts matters, however: one listen to the cover of "Deathcrush" at a high volume is guaranteed to have your ears bleeding, and the cover of "Sacrifice" by Bathory isn't much better, either. Those two songs are the exception, though, as the rest of the material present on _To Elishia_ is of typical Ophthalamian quality, and should be enough to tide one over until the release of some new material (finally) in the form of the upcoming full-length, _Dominion_, this summer. (article submitted 7/6/1997)



EAC Lame 3.97 v0 VBR