[schema type=”review” name=”Swallow The Sun- Songs From The North I,II & III” description=”Label: Century Media” author=”Basak Günel” pubdate=”2015-11-13″ ]
Swallow The Sun is a Finnish melodic death/doom metal band. They have been active since 2000 and released 6 full-length albums so far with the 6th one being their latest record “Songs From The North I,II&III”. The band has also recently been through the line-up change; Kai Hahto (who is the current drummer of Nightwish) has been replaced by Juuso Raatikainen.
It’s worth mentioning that this record consists of 3 parts that are independent from each other and the album has 2,5 hours of material in total, which is a lot! I have to admit that getting used to the record took a bit of time for me; 2,5 hours is a lot to digest and especially with a doom/death album like this, the listener will need some time to sit back, relax and feel the album.
One thing I really loved with this album is that the band delivered us a lot of different styles – from acoustic to extreme side of metal- and even experimented a bit in general ; maybe this might also be the case why the album has 3 parts that consist of different genres. This brings an amazing diversity to the record and will definitely attract fans of different styles.
The first part of the album is the typical Swallow The Sun that we know; dark melodies, melancholic sound and that awesome mixture of raw and clean vocals so the first part will definitely will be loved by the fans of the band. It’s not so up-beat as I would have expected but the more I listen to this part, the more I get to appreciate how dark but melancholic the band’s sound is. One highlight of the album is definitely the song “Heartstrings Shattering” in which the female vocals are also featured. My personal favorite is definitely “Lost & Catatonic” though.
After the first half, the second half will be quite a surprise because it’s acoustic and there’s no ‘brutality’ ; this half really reflects the whole nordic spirit of the band and fits perfectly to the gray autumn atmosphere! Clean vocals accompany us through this part and there’s even a song “Songs From The North” that is partly in Finnish language, which makes the album even more beautiful! I am sure the fans of the Finnish culture/nature will especially appreciate this half more. This part has also been my favorite and it somehow has a special place in my heart.. My favorite song from the whole album – “Heart of a Cold White Land”- is also from this part!
After a calm and relaxing part, the extreme and apocalyptic third part punches us in the face! This part is even more brutal than the first part and will definitely attract the fans of the extreme side of doom and death metal. The harsh vocals are quite diverse – they are even more brutal than those vocals in the first part- and I can say that this part shows us the darkest side of the band; it almost felt like the band mixed 90s doom metal with their unique sound. No wonder why the band defined this part as “funeral doom”…it definitely smells like death!
So what has been my favorite part then? It’s hard to choose between II & III as I really liked how the band could use a diversity like this and still deliver a great record. It’s almost risky even as with some bands it doesn’t work at all but STS definitely managed this. I must say I am still struggling with the first part as compared to the other two; it still stands a bit weak and not so impressive but nevertheless, there’s a bit of everything for the fans of Finnish death/doom/acoustic.
Line Up:
Mikko Kotamäki – vocals
Juha Raivio – guitars
Markus Jämsen – guitars
Aleksi Munter – keyboards
Matti Honkonen – bass
Juuso Raatikainen – drums
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Tracklist:
I II III |
Links:
Swallow The Sun Facebook
Swallow The Sun Official
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