Review by Greg on September 26, 2024.

Talk about a truly unhoped-for return! Of course, eternal oblivion isn't a mandatory fate for every old, obscure band, but you know how this kind of story usually goes... I previously mentioned another local, extremely weird act, Flounder, and their guitarist nowadays works as a classical music composer, just to put you into perspective. So the fact that every member of the minor, but ambitious, Finnish band Tetragon was still more than willing to return playing metal in the new millennium was already a positive, in my book. The collective was later reduced to a four-piece, with the abandonment of vocalist Petri and guitarist Toni Rajamäki taking care of the vocals, but it finally managed to give a sequel to their long demo streak between '80s and '90s with comeback EP Chapter One.

I really didn't know what to expect from this, but a look at the tracklist showed that the EP, with only three substantial songs that also become increasingly long, easily recalls one of their last demos, ...the Water Had Rounded the Stones – hell, even the song lengths themselves are incredibly similar. Nevertheless, Chapter One is a wholly different beast. Tetragon has changed their style anew, even if this time it was admittedly something to expect, and their brand of thrash metal, which had already sailed towards more progressive territories back then, expands further to cover even more rather modern influences. Part of this can be traced back to the change at the mic, where Rajamäki reprises Petri's approach of clean and harsh vocals, but with a way better outcome. He's not an impressive singer per se, and his clean voice is a bit low in the mix, but his range surely covers more than five notes, so I'm satisfied – not to mention that his growls are also very powerful and adequate.

The instrumental parts, however, are a bit more difficult to dissect. New elements appear like those occasional electronic effects and synths, and the band proves to be also more than comfortable with softer, quasi-balladic segments. But before you get mad, fear not as the middle track 'Hollow Inside' contains all this and more, and comes across as the easy highlight of Chapter One. The tranquil, but not mellow intro part is serviceable and builds the right amount of tension before soon leaving the scene to thrash, which, amazingly enough, appears hugely inspired by something like Coroner's Mental Vortex, even in some details like the drum fills. Tetragon however keeps adding more and more flourishes to it, like the final solos, sorely absent from the opener 'Eden', and also drops a brilliant clean chorus amidst them. Top-notch stuff for eight minutes of music. The other two tracks can't come close to it but have still got their fair share of variety, all too rare killer riffs ('Eden'), and some more enjoyable clean moments ('Golden-Eyed Lover').

To sum up, Chapter One is demanding, but far from feeling tiresome. I had to cut some points off as there was no doubt a bit of trimmable fat here and there, but it's only a venial flaw for an EP that stands as an admirable reinvention for these historic Finnish hermits. The best part of it? They didn't stop here...

Rating: 7.7