Insomnium – Heart like a Grave

Label: Century Media
Releasedate: 04-10-2019

Insomnium is back in 2019, this time bringing with them Jani Liimatainen on the recording and composition. Jani is a well known guitarist in Finland known for the likes of Sonata Arctica, Cain’s Offering and Stratovarius to name a few. 

This time around the staples of their sound are still present, melodic death metal with its intrinsic bleakness coupled with very well accomplished and inviting melodies.

The record kicks off with the intro-like song “Wail of the North” A piano followed by strings in crescendo which slowly hits you with sorrow and longing for better days. Then enters the drums and growls which take you to a dark winter mood that sets the theme for the entire album.

“Valediction” follows up with an angry riff that feels like the real first song and a taste of the aggressive side of this record, but the song also has some clean vocals and softer sides following the theme of mourning and saying goodbye to a beloved one.

My favorite was definitely “Neverlast“, a rather conventional piece within the genre, but it’s just a reminder of the splendor that comes when mixing the musical ingredients this band has played with for so long.

“Pale Morning Star” reminds one once again that there is a formula at play here, even though it’s melodic, bleak and aggressive at the same time, it feels like we have already been here. Are we getting stuck on a thematic rut?

“And Bells They Toll” disproves the feared redundancy at least from a musical perspective, it starts slow as expected but it maintains the pace exposing the listener to a slightly different type of energy, a synergy if you will, the clean vocals do help freshen things up a bit more, it also sports one of the catchier solos out of the lot.

“The Offering”, “Mute is my Sorrow” and “Twilight Trails” all took me back to a similar train of thought I was having before with this record, and that is that they are very well accomplished musicians within their genre, yet it still feels like there is a very palpable formula at play here, it works but it’s still noticeable enough to make me think “These songs are kind of similar to that other song a couple tracks back” That aside, I do have to say that the ending with the closing solo on “The offering” was spot on! Also “Mute is my Sorrow” might very well be my second favorite song on the record, let’s see if it holds up.

“Heart like a Grave” is one of the singles off this record, and as you might imagine it delivers more of the same gorgeous darkness, playing with various types of tempos that are very well interwoven together. This rhythmical symbiosis as a result creates a song that puts you in a melancholic forest setting echoed by the loneliness which the very thought of death brings with it, a remarkable piece within the Insomnium album.

“Karelia” closes off the album in an instrumental fashion, leaving it to the sounds of guitars and drum beats to translate the despair of knowing that all things must end. Change is the only constant in life, whether it’s a change of seasons, darkness to light, light to darkness or even the blooming of flowers. With change always comes death and vice versa. 

My overall impression of this Insomnium album is that it’s very beautiful yet quite repetitive, even though it might as well be consciously done that way (themes and whatnot) it becomes a bit tedious after a while especially when listening to it as a whole. I do have to agree that there are many songs that if singled out from the whole record, they can make for very good standalone pieces that represent the style of Insomnium.  “Heart like a Grave” is a sonic passage that ventures within a mournful darkness, eventually introducing glimpses of light that help you appreciate the beauty that hides behind such gloominess.

Line up:

• Niilo Sevänen – lead vocals, bass
• Ville Friman – guitars, clean vocals
• Markus Vanhala – guitars
• Jani Liimatainen – guitars, clean vocals
• Markus Hirvonen – drums

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