In my time for Metalrage I have reviewed both the Reason and Giving Yourself Away albums of the highly acclaimed Dutch funeral doom band Officium Triste. Now their label Displeased records has decided to reissue the album they released prior to these two; The Pathway, complete with bonus tracks.

 

What this record offers is the whole The Pathway record dating from 2001, plus five bonus tracks. These are the two tracks from their Roses On My Grave 7” EP (including a Chorus Of Ruin cover), one track of their 2000 promo record which led to their signing on Displeased Records, and two live tracks from a 2002 gig in Tilburg's 013. Since The Pathway is out of print for a while, this is a good reissue for those still looking for it. And for the real collector it must be awesome to also get these extra tracks, those must be even harder to come by.

 

When compared to their other records, The Pathway shows a band that still has a long way to go. Especially the clean vocals lack real talent, and the production of the whole has some faults. To me their best album is Reason, which they did not supersede with Giving Yourself Away in my opinion. The clean vocals are not Pim Blankenstein's greatest aspect, and I'd wish more people would tell him that. His grunts on the other hand are fine, they suit the music perfectly.

 

If you're looking to complete your collection of Officium Triste's funeral doom it might be worth to pick this one up. To me it is very obvious that the records after this one are a whole lot better.