That is a very good way to look at this ep. Leftovers. After a long session of writing music, Tom Warrior and crew had enough material to make an astounding album that was over an hour in length, and still have a few other nuggets worth listening to. Throw in a couple live tracks of vintage Celtic Frost songs revisited with the new lineup, and you have yourself an above average encore to arguably one of the new millennia’s best albums.
This ep offers us three new tracks, which I will break down individually, and two live tracks. The live tracks are a nice addition though they add too much in the matter of content. They are fun to listen to and the quality is great. The one thing I don't like is that Nocturnal Culto does the vocals for Dethroned Emperor. Quite frankly I don't want to hear him sing, I want to hear Tom Warrior's tortured raspy growl. Not bad for a couple of bonus tracks, as I usually ignore them completely.
The first and titular track is very good. I think of it as an ambient piece with a lot off metal added to it. It is very slow, with an extremely simple main riff that chugs along for most of the song. This is by no means a vice (unless you are more into the more aggressive songs like A Thousand Lies) as it allows the brilliant lyrics to come through more clearly, which makes it serve its purpose better: an emotional metal ballad. My favourite part of this song is the building rhythm guitars (very effect heavy) that crescendo towards the end of the chorus. The bass, lead guitar and drums stay really steady and slow throughout the whole song. The programming of the background sound effects, the rhythm guitar, and the lyrics are the highlights here. Here's a grab from the beautiful lyrics:
“The air liquefies as it enters my shattered lungs
Darkness enwraps my mind as blood stains your skin
My heart pierced by thorns of words that now seem wrong
I yield to the darkness of the agony deep within”
The second song is more aggressive but maintains a slow tempo. Starting off with a hugely distorted bass slap into an onslaught of power chords; this song gets you pumped. And the chorus is just fantastic. It's hard not to get into it when he shouts CHAOS! LET CHAOS REIGN! It ends softly which I disagree with. I feel it takes away from the sheer violence of the song. It is still a great song though. The lead guitar resumes its more traditional role in this song, and there is a more limited amount of programmed effects. It's a bit repetitive but still a really good song.
Unlike Crucifixus which is entirely so. This song I listen to very rarely and I feel it’s the weakest on the ep. It would have served well as an intro to a long album as opposed to the third track of an ep. It is just programmed wankery that only really serves as background music. As far as ambient tracks go, this isn't bad, but the spacing of this on an ep just ruins it. This song I have heard performed live and it sounds great; because it is being used as a intro.
A few notes on the production. I believe these were recorded during the Eparistera sessions so if you listened to it (and you should...) then I need not explain it. For others, the production is as good as it gets. Mixing is perfect with just the right amount of volume for each instrument. There are no flaws I can find with the production on this or the full length. Somebody would have to really split hairs to pick it apart. And if you find someone doing that you have my endorsement to ignore them. IT'S VIRTUALLY PERFECT.
Overall if you are a fan of Eparistera Daimones like me, this is good to hold you over until the next album. And for that I give Shatter by Triptykon a 72 out of 100 or a 3 out of 5.