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Insomnium: Shadows of the dying sun
21/05/14 || The Duff
Only five bands in this world have made me weep – Anathema, Katatonia, Suffocation, Insomnium and Simply Red. Insomnium are certainly one of my favourite mellow-death metal bands, especially current, although their last record “One For Sorrow” left a little wanting. Now with the departure of Milli Vanilli and recruitment of Valhalla of Omnium Gatherum (likewise melodeath of the sorrowful kind), their formula and ability for chops seems suffering somewhat of a jumble.
“Shadows of the Dying Sun” is remarkably Insomnium’s sixth record in some twelve years, which is one impressive feat in itself. To say that they have released four if not five if I’m am willing to tuck my testicles between my legs and do a sort of struggling Can-Can dance of melodic death metal’s most significant records of all time would not be an overstatement, nay.
The band’s second album “Since the Day it All Came Down”, Opeth-worship with soaring melodies and that gravelly, emotional bark of bass-player Sevänen only jumpstarted the band into the two blinding masterpieces “Above the Weeping World” and “Across the Dark”.
Anybody bemoaning the departure of Milli Vanilli would do well to note however that Sevänen and Friman were major contributors to those two records and thus with “Shadows of the Dying Sun” we are at a stylistic change but not so much because of the loss of an integral band member.
Thus welcome the new addition of shred guitar into the Insomnium formula, and a welcome one at that – the notes of something like “Revelation” or “The Promethean Song” holy shit is like making love to a woman through the crisp morning air on the backs of unicorns that are themselves fucking each other; it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between inter-species genitalia so intensely magical.
The band had made a point of blastbeats on this record, which apprehensively peaked my interest, but to say the least they have integrated such quite spectacularly even if they fail to appear at all necessary – Hirvonen’s parts have always been a cornerstone of the Insomnium sound, essentially his build-ups and breakaways and footwork, blasting seems a metaphorical cock in the mouth BUT A CLEAN ONE.
As for the rest, some of you may be glad that we are back to the sprawling epic of “Since the Day it All Came Down”, big compositions; sadly, the quality is not always there. “Black Heart Rebellion”, now that there is a track to make me weep along the seashore, and the first two cuts barring the intro are as rousing as they make ‘em even if the arrangements leave a little to desire and the material is a touch scant, not so varied – the band is clearly tightening its sound.
But then we get to “Lose to Night”, which certainly adds another dimension to the record reminding me a fair old deal of the title track off “One for Sorrow” but almost completely clean, but this as with “Collapsing Words” has a Eurovision feel to it – not to belittle the band, but the cheese is that Sentenced style that is impossible to ignore nor appreciate really unless begrudgingly; the opening melody to the latter is goddamn infuriating, a ditty, combined with the synth-heavy singalong chorus we are at Camembert-deluxe.
With “The River” we are back to the epic, folk, spread out with that Amon Amarth Viking that cropped up here and abouts on the album “One for Sorrow”, but sadly by this point the pace of the record has been set despite the return of blasting to trigger the senses; it makes sense then that I am overjoyed they chose to include the fast-track single “Ephemeral”, a crowd-pleaser absolutely and something that detracts from the one-riff wonder of “The Promethean Song” and the underwhelming title track (despite a roaring chorus) that trails the record off and leaves me sadly disappointed.
- Information
- Released: 2014
- Label: Century Media
- Website: www.insomnium.net
- Band
- Markus Hirvonen: drums
- Markus Vanhala: guitars
- Niilo Sevänen: vocals, bass
- Ville Friman: guitars, vocals (clean)
- Tracklist
- 01. The Primeval Dark
- 02. While We Sleep
- 03. Revelation
- 04. Black Heart Rebellion
- 05. Lose to Night
- 06. Collapsing Words
- 07. The River
- 08. Ephemeral
- 09. The Promethean Song
- 10. Shadows of the Dying Sun
