Mouth Of The Architect's half of the split with Kenoma, I don't think they bettered it. Shame that's all Kenoma released, I preferred their tracks overall.

I'd go for Lacuna Coil as well. Everything else mentioned as good as it is, I wouldn't consider the bands best output

Devolve - Shihad

Their thrash metal EP before they went industrial, then commercial, then nu-metal, then pop-punk.

Surf Nicaragua - Sacred Reich

There's nothing wrong with the rest of the Reich's output, but this is just better.

Very few bands or artists release their best work in ep form. Ep's are generally appetizers or dumping grounds for acceptable but nonetheless inferior material.

Bands that release great eps but not albums are generally not that will remembered. Same goes for short story writers who never write novels.We tend to value long form modes of expression more.

Obnoxious might be more 'serious' than this and The Fear, but Moshkinstein is where it's at with Acid Reign.

I think Constellation deserves a mention. Half of AHS consists of songs from this EP in slightly defrosted form. Its my favorite Arcturus release (the original!)

Even better than Ignorance?

I reckon so. I had Ignorance on tape, with the EP stuck on the end. I was always wanting it to end so I could get to Surf Nicaragua, the song.

Yeah I agree with you on the Sacred Reich thing Vim.

Don't get me wrong, I think Surf Nicaragua is excellent. In fact, I saw them at the Underworld around that time and those songs stuck out. It's just that other people I know generally talk about Ignorance as being their best.

1. Ignorance
2. Surf Nicaragua
3. The American Way

The other two.

Ithaca so far. If you put the Ep's together it would make a great album! Maybe they can release the new album special edition with that as bonus! Except its not on CD!

Can I assume you're not referring to the English psychedelic folk outfit from the 70's blacklorre? I quite like their 1973 album "A Game for All Who Know". If not then I've never heard mention of this band you're constantly referring to in recent weeks.