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Reviews
Swallow The Sun: New moon
18/02/10 || Global Domination
If for any mysterious reason you’re given to analyze any sorts of metal statistics, you might end up wondering what bands have been the most steadily awesome of the decade that just ended. It’s an intriguing proposition, right? I’m not going to dwell too much on that, as it’s just a random thought that occurred to me after sitting down to review “New Moon”, the latest chapter of masterful melodic doom/death from the Finnish geniuses, Swallow the Sun. After four truly excellent full lengths and one equally monstrous EP, these guys must be one of the bands of the new millennium, regardless of the fact that doom is not the most popular of genres and certainly not everyone’s cup of tea.
“New Moon” finds Swallow the Sun right at where they have been since their beginning as a band: top of the motherfucken doom game! This latest opus doesn’t deviate much from the tried and trusted songwriting formula these guys have used in their previous releases. Why should they anyway? When you hit the nail with such force and exactitude, hammering memorable songs into the listener’s consciousness without respite, I find no reason to veer into much experimentation. What we have at hand on “New Moon” is once again doom/death plagued with the soul crushing melancholy only the great can conjure and tons of that understated aggression that characterizes the genre at its very best. I must say I’m impressed with the variety in song structures that the band has used this time, and the fine balance achieved between melody and heaviness.
On to the songs themselves, each and every one here is pretty fucken great, so forgive me if I just delve a bit deeper only on my favorite tracks so far, for brevity’s sake. “Falling World” is an ode to despair, with a beautifully sad main riff around which many subtle melodies revolve, while Mikko’s clean singing plunges it deeper into the abyss of gloom. “Sleepless Swans” is just as impressive, cold and incredibly sinister in atmosphere. “Lights on the Lake” is horror embodied indeed, one of the very best songs these guys have ever written. You can feel deep in your flesh the sadness of the drowned ghosts, the chilling anguish and the sudden violence of unexpected death. Fucken brilliant! Distraught melodies again, sorrowful female vocals, a couple of impressive blasting sections. Perfection indeed! The title track is absolutely stunning too in its epic beauty, powered by excellent riffs and heartfelt leads that evoke pure helplessness against fate.
I can’t help being impressed by Mikko Kotamaki’s vocal performance yet one more time. He’s one truly versatile singer who hits the deep growls and the higher pitched black metal shrieks with equal ease, and at the same time has a soft, melancholic clean voice that exudes melancholy as few do. Aleksi Munter is a fucken wizard on the keyboards too; he brings some wickedly sad melodies to life, incorporating them into the tapestry of brilliant riffs and eerie leads of Raivio and Jämsen with great finesse. Their interplay is what makes Swallow the Sun an extraordinary band; they simply know where the song must be driven and which instrument must take center stage with such uncanny intelligence that I must conclude they were born this stuff!
The rhythm section has been improved with the addition of the awesome Kai Hahto on drums. As we all know, Kai is a fucken monster behind the kit, and his added power and precision can be clearly felt on “New Moon”. Somehow it’s hard for me to picture Kai drumming on such different material; I suppose doom drumming must be a piece of cake for him after those years of hyper-speed playing in a myriad of bands. His counterpart Matti Honkonen continues to rumble in the background with his bass, his presence being felt much more during the crunchier death part where he contributes to the low end heaviness.
Swallow the Sun nowadays is very fucken close to elbowing aside My Dying Bride and start sharing the throne of doom-death that the British legends have claimed for their own since time immemorial, statement that I do not make lightly, being a confessed fan of both. It’s hard to compare favored bands when they have so much in common and there are so many years in between of their respective starts, but I guess it must be made, just to gauge where the newcomers stand. Swallow the Sun is at an age disadvantage here, but they way they’re working against that is scary. Soon enough they might overtake the masters, I think. With “New Moon”, once again they have put forth an album of near perfect, timeless doom dirges, brilliantly conceived and executed. This is simply a fucken must listen if doom is yer thing, ladies and gentlemen!
- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Spinefarm Records
- Website: www.swallowthesun.net
- Band
- Mikko Kotamaki: vocals
- Juha Raivio: guitars
- Markus Jämsen: guitars
- Aleksi Munter: keyboards
- Matti Honkonen: bass
- Kai Hahto: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. These Woods Breathe Evil
- 02. Falling World
- 03. Sleepless Swans
- 04. …and Heavens Cried Blood
- 05. Lights on the Lake (Horror Pt. III)
- 06. New Moon
- 07. Servant of Sorrow
- 08. Weight of the Dead