Insomnium – Shadows of the Dying Sun

Releasedate: 28-04-2014; Label: Century Media
By: Basak Günel

Insomnium is a Finnish melodic death metal band formed in 1997. Although the band can be classified as a melodic death metal band, they have elements from other genres such as doom, melancholy, and dark metal. The band released their first demos in 1999 and 2000 and they were signed to Candlelight Records. After releasing 4 albums via Candlelight Records, the band was signed to Century Media in 2010. Ever since, these Finnish death metal legends have a special heart in everyone who is craving for some melancholy and aggressive riffs and their latest album “Shadows of the Dying Sun” is beyond my expectations!

The first impression I got from this record is that it’s much more direct and less atmospheric than the band’s previous record “One for Sorrow”. With the first two songs “The Primeval Dark” and “While We Sleep”, there is definitely a ‘faster’ approach with the drums and the fast guitar riffs. Nevertheless, there is surely still the melancholic and dark vibe from the beginning and this is a clear indication that Insomnium definitely has an improved sound in “Shadows of the Dying Sun”. Instead of repeating themselves like most of the melodic death metal bands nowadays, these legendary Finnish metallers have delivered another great record with a much more modern sound and a better production.

Speaking of the band’s sound, it must be mentioned that the line-up change in the band definitely had a huge impact on the album’s overall sound. Especially with the addition of the new guitarist Markus Vanhala (Omnium Gatherum), the listener can definitely realize the energetic sound in the e-guitars; there are definitely new interpretations within the guitar riffs and this adds diversity within the songs. A clear indication is the song “Revelation”, which was composed by Mr.Vanhala himself, and which takes the new Insomnium sound to another level. Furthermore, I also loved the mixture of clean vocals and growls throughout the album. This made the album quite extraordinary; the clean vocals in songs like “While We Sleep” and “Lose to Night” made the songs a lot more atmospheric whereas the growls, which formed one of the essential elements of the album and of the Insomnium sound in general, gave that ‘cruel’ vibe to the songs.

It should be mentioned that fans who are expecting a more atmospheric Insomnium might be disappointed. This record is not like the band’s previous albums but it is indeed still dark and it makes you think of those grey rainy and dark days. “Shadows of the Dying Sun” is not the album to listen to for once and forget. It will ‘kick in’ slowly and affect you deeply. Lead way to melancholy and darkness… Insomnium is back!

Line-up :
Niilo Sevänen – Vocals/Bass
Ville Friman – Guitars/Vocals
Markus Vanhala – Guitars
Markus Hirvonen – Drums

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

Links:
Insomnium Official
Insomnium Facebook