Angry Metal Guy

Insomnium // One for Sorrow
Rating: 4.0/5.0 —Finland = Winland
Label: Century Media Records
Websites: insomnium.net/  myspace.com/insomniumband
Release Dates: EU: 17.10.2011 US: 10.18.2011

Once considered the ”other Amorphis“ due to the style and sound of their well regarded debut In the Halls of Awaiting, Insomnium have since evolved into one of the premier melo-death units in operation. Along with fellow Fins Omnium Gatherum, they’ve been steadfastly keeping the melo-death banner flying and the style alive and viable. In fact, no one is doing this style better, as One for Sorrow and Omnium Gatherum‘s ginormous New World Shadows  amply demonstrate. Both albums employ hyper-melodic guitar-work alongside sub-woofer blowing death vocals and both shroud everything with the melancholy and sadness that seems to seep from the very ground of Finland. Over the course of four albums, Insomnium has churned out consistently high quality melo-death of this nature with very few stylistic shifts or changes. This has, at times, made their material feel a bit samey and can give the impression of roaming over well worn ground. While this was never a big issue for me personally, those concerns are still present here as they continue to hone their tried-and-true sound to a razor edge. Insomnium gives you ten new tracks of excellently melodic death that incorporates doom and elements of old Amorphis, classic In Flames, Brave Murder Day era Katatonia and Noumena. While there are no surprises, this is some great, emotionally powerful music and exactly the kind of listening material to stockpile as we head into the cold gloom of winter.  Continue reading

Insomnium – Across the Dark
Rating: 3.0/5.0 – Enjoyable and well done, but doesn’t quite stick
Label: Candlelight
Websites: myspace.com/insomniumband | insomnium.com
Release Date(s): FI: 9.9.2009 | EU: 26.09.2009 | USA: 09.15.2009 (apparently this album was delayed)

Insomnium is one of those bands that rides on the border of melodic death metal and progressive rock, straddling the fence between good, solid heavy music and the proggy stuff that all the sadboy metal guys listen to.  Those guys who secretly love The Cure and Depeche Mode and end up making stuff that sounds like newer Katatonia, Anathema or Amorphis.  This isn’t really a critique, but it lets you know right off the bat where these Finnish melodic metallers are standing in reference to the never ending “is melody metal” war that seems to be going on these days.

And these guys are very good at what they’re doing.  Across the Dark is a highly polished, excellently produced record.  The music is melodic and fairly interesting, and sounds like an expert blend of Whoracle/Colony-era In Flames, Opeth and modern Amorphis (though, admittedly these guys use a lot more death metal vocals).  While it starts a bit slowly, these Finns have you in the grip of their darkest dreams and melancholy aspirations in no-time, transferring smoothly between the heavy and the progressive with the ease that very few bands possess.

There are issues with this record, however.  The first is the vague feeling that I’ve heard this all before.  It’s not like I consider Insomnium‘s sound to be a direct rip off of any one band, but instead these guys are a bit like the stranger who you meet that you swear you recognize from somewhere.  They consistently tell you that they’ve never been to that specific bar, and they don’t know that person you know from college, but you’re still fucking positive that you know the guy.  I spent this whole album thinking to myself, “man, have I listened to these guys before?”

The second thing that I’m not terribly keen on is that the clean vocals and chorus parts seem a bit formulaic, wandering a little too close to the Killswitch Engage territory for my own tastes.  Clean vocals are fine for me, but the way that they’re built into big catchy choruses, when the rest is heavy melodic death metal just rubs me the wrong way after being inundated with metalcore bands jumping on the KSE bandwagon.  Those parts sound too polished, too clean, too commercial for me to really feel like there’s anything dangerous about this band.  Instead, it sounds like they’ve got a producer sitting in the room going “and now, my friends, you need a catchy chorus!  I know just the guy to write one for you!”

However, that isn’t the whole album and that certainly isn’t the feeling that I get from it all.  There is a good deal of excellent melodic death metal riffs on here that I really dig, the clean vocals on “Lay of Autumn” stand out for me, and the album has a flow that it is really important for me and that speaks to talented writers with a feel for detail.  All-in-all Across the Dark is not the strongest record I’ve heard this year, but if you’re a fan of melodic death metal, progressive death metal or stuff in that vein you probably won’t go wrong buying it.

These last couple weeks have been pretty crazy for this Angry Metal Guy.  I’ve moved south from the fair city of Umeå, to the much bigger (and arguably fairer) city of Uppsala.  While I miss Norrland, I do have to say that I’m quite enjoying certain aspects of the student culture in the city of Uppsala.   I haven’t had a lot of music time, but here’s some of what I’ve been listening to in the last week.

Weekly suggestion: Guilt Machine – On This Perfect Day — Yeah, this record was seriously solid and I strongly suggest you pick it up.

The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate — Oh, this is good.  I wasn’t super impressed with Nocturnal, so I’m pleased.  Watch for a review coming soon.
Gwyllion – The Edge of All I Know — Definitely heard better, but a pretty alright record.  Good vocals.
Insomnium - Across the Dark — Watch for this review.  Out on the 7th of September in Europe.
Isis – Wavering Radiant — These guys are ridiculously overrated.
Havok – Burn — See the review.  Great fucking riffs.
Amorphis – Skyforger — Best album of 2009?  So far.
Anaal Nathrakh – The Constellation of the Black Widow — \m/
Propagandhi – Supporting Caste — It ain’t the glory days, but these guys are still the smartest political band around.
Marduk – Rom 5:12 — I’m getting psyched for the new record, are you?
Falkenbach – Ok Nefna Tysvar Ty — Excellent viking/folk metal record.. addictive melodies.
The Dear Hunter – Act III: Life and Death — Excellent.
Amon Amarth – Live in Bochum 30/12/08 — Seriously, worth buying the reissue for this live record.