RAPTURE - Futile Digi-CD

Reissue on digisleeve format with exclusive liner notes.

Rapture is a little hidden gem that holds a special place in my heart. I first discovered doom metal when I was 16 years old. Having been listening to death metal since I was younger, doom was a great refresh and in the long run, ended up being a favorite subgenre of mine. I recall Katatonia's "Brave Murder Day" and Rapture's "Futile" being my first exposure. While "Brave Murder Day" is great, I had gained more of an affinity to Finland's little known Rapture. I had never heard anything like them and the sound stuck more with me than "Brave Murder Day" had. It just felt to me that Futile emphasized doom and how it felt.

Futile has its own unique sound, one that made it stick out amongst other doom metal albums. While Futile's sound is similar to mid-point Katatonia and to early October Tide (both groups had/have Jonas Renske, so no surprise), the overall sound still differs. Futile has a "lighter" and a colder sound to its guitars, and the drums keep a good pace while blending in with the bass. The instruments are balanced and do not overpower one another. The album is not as jagged in tone as Katatonia's "Brave Murder Day", nor as energetic in pace as October Tide's "Rain Without End", but Futile still has strong potency like the aforementioned albums. One of the best aspects of Futile and Rapture in general are the vocals. The vocals are very clear and easy to understand whereas some other doom metal artists are a little trickier. There is also a nice and sparing usage of clean vocals, and even better is that they are in songs where they really shine alongside the instruments.

If Futile were a picture, it'd be one of a dark misty forest, one far from civilization. Isolated, depressive, and lyrically creative are the best ways to summarize this album. The tracks "While the World Sleeps" and "The Fall" are the best examples of how this album is a special album in the scene. While the band members were a little young and inexperienced at the time in 1999, the album is very impressive for a debut and I believe that it greatly contributes to the doom metal scene that was flourishing in mid to late 90s Scandinavia.