New Moon

Short review, I loved this album. Swallow the Sun hasn't really caught on in the US like other Finnish bands as Nightwish or Children of Bodom, but they are quite worth listening too.  I would place them more under the doom metal genre in describing their sound. It is similar to the Swedish Doom Metal Band Candlemass, only much better. It's the sort of music that one would expect to evolve from bands like Black Sabbath.   Swallow the Sun has a very heavy gothic sound with dark brooding vocals.  Kotomaki sings very understandable melodic vocals and then raspy demonic death metal vocals, a technique many bands use such as Opeth. In fact if I had to name a band that Swallow the Sun sounded like, Opeth would also be named.

The album has 8 tracks; These Woods Breathe Evil (6:43) / Falling World (5:08) / Sleepless Swans (7:23) / and Heavens Cried Blood (6:17) / Lights on the Lake (Horror Part III) (7:45) / New Moon (5:00)  / Servant of Sorrow (6:25) / Weight of the Dead (9:04). It also reached number 10 on the Finnish album charts.

I will describe a few songs in detail so you can get a feel for the album and see if you may like it.

These Woods Breath Evil starts with a gentle acoustic guitar melody with a voiceover in a deep voice I grasp the soil from the tomb and cover my face... the face of a murderer.    Deep hypnotic guitar riffs come in slow deliberate and powerful. They are soon joined by ominous keyboards  It has a horror show feel to it.

Then the death metal vocals kick in with the first verse  Serpents betrayed me, they crawled in my head and betrayed me.  It doesn't take long to get the just of the song, it's about a killer who has gone crazy out in the woods a la  The Evil Dead.  I wonder if the Finns have heard of Bruce Campbell.

The owls are not what they seem
they made me do it.
am I a ghost amongst them?
but this blood is real that stains my hands.

Minor chords rule in the heavy rhythms of the hook and the notes that make up the haunting bridge melodies are full of flats and minor keys. Swallow the Sun does a great job of conjuring up a menacing forest of tall dark trees, and the sense of paranoia and despair of one crazed person stuck within them.

New Moon the albums title cut begins with a nice vibrato guitar solo, then rhythm guitars join in increasing in speed and power.   The bass line is slow and ominous, the keyboards creepy.  Clean lyrics sing the tale   "Tommorow will be worse" I heard her say as she closed the curtains and walked away.

Tied on the bed by hands of the past
Memories too painful to be opened
My body crushed and burned from escaping life
The sleep will come, with horrors of you

The chorus sings  New moon, would you open the gates
And take me away from this night

Death vocals only kick in for one chorus. This song was a powerful song about pain and suffering and the desire to escape.  What the pain was from is never explained, I am not sure if the opening verse refers to a girlfriend leaving, and thus the pain, or if it is a nurse with bad news.

The final song I am including in my review is one of the quiter songs, Sleepless Swans.  This was a song that most definitely reminded me of Opeth's quiet side. The song begins with a simple moody piano riffs.  Quiet arpeggios are played on the guitar and clean vocals start the song. About two and a half minutes into the song, the guitars get heavier for a verse of death vocals, but it quickly quiets back down to the soft arpeggios and clean vocals.

The lyrics, like those of most death and gloom metal bands are also full of good cheer.   Here is the closing lines of this song about death, pain and loss

Winter has our hearts now, it finally tore us apart
We are sleepless swans, frozen on the lake

My thoughts.

You might think that gloomy death metal makes one sad and gloomy but it really doesn't! First, when I listen, although I can clearly hear what they are singing about, I mostly focus on the music which because of its immense power and melodic structure, actually makes me feel good. I quite liked Swallow the Sun, I loved their heavy gloomy gothy sound. If The Cure was a heavy metal band, I think they would sound like this!