Juha in Los Angeles

As is customary in my vision of things, I would have thought SWALLOW THE SUN were one of the bigger bands on the night, but being fourth down on the bill, I guess not. I like this band…a lot! Since their debut full length album “The Morning Never Came”, I’ve had STS’s albums always not far from my CD rotation. Riding out on the crest of this year’s tremendous “Hope”, the Finnish Doom/Death sextet slayed through a decent set, though it was marred by the “Whiskey Mud” sound I spoke of, especially in the parts where vocalist Mikko Kotamäki slows to almost a spoken word.

Markus in Los Angeles

STS are one of those newer Deathdoom (yes, I just made that shit up!) who convey their incredible heaviness not in even just down-tuned guitars, but also the structure of songs; able to mix low end riffs with melodic overtones and flawless tempo shifts. As always I’m hopeless with remembering entire sets let alone the order of them, but “Hope”, “These Hours Of Despair”, “Swallow” and “Don’t Fall Asleep” were all dispatched to perfection. I was a bit surprised by “Don’t Fall Asleep” as it is quite long and slower, so having a short set meant it hindered them perhaps fitting in another track.

 It doesn’t necessarily come across, at least to me, on their recordings just how complex and dexterous the drumming is on STS songs.  Now, the man behind the kit looked nothing like the picture of drummer Pasi Pasanen from the album booklet or their website, so perhaps it was another drummer who added a little of his own style or Pasanen has radically changed his look. Altogether STS put on a solid performance and had me begging for more, which is certainly better than hoping a band ends their set soon!
Metal Observer