SWALLOW THE SUN – New Moon

From the frosty, rigid, wintry weather of northern Europe comes New Moon, the new offering by the successful, deathly Finnish Melodic Doom Metal band, Swallow The Sun who charges with their influence taken from the melodic world of Extreme Metal.
Apart from New Moon, on all of their previous albums, they’ve shown why this band’s name is “Swallow The Sun” as they made it happen with their earlier releases. Moreover, it is shown why they did it again on their new bargaining chip. Through New Moon, as in the past, there is not even a single moment on Swallow The Sun’s lengthy, and deeply emotional constitutions, that will let you have the slight glimmer of sunlight on your face. However, do not get depressed before you read this entire review.

With this band’s ingenuity on making those frostbite riffs as they tried to accomplish the similar sense of the hazy coldness through their albums. On New Moon ended up with, not many, yet quite a few dead areas that may bring you the tediousness feeling of slumber. To be more exact, Swallow The Sun have the knack of creating wonderful and even wizardly-like riffage of sheer melodies. Those melodic verses were added by overwhelming heaviness that is mainly similar to the modern side of the Swedish Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal. However, on several areas on songs, for example on the closing track “Weight Of The Dead” (a track that would make you feel the heavy weight of the dead), Swallow The Sun tried to be varied, yet, with the influence of Doom Metal, didn’t succeed on composing more add-ons to the ultra slow moving rhythms. The result was that after a while those riffs became as if they were an annoyance because of the notion that nothing seems to be moving along. These guys have much to offer, yet, others would want some movement beyond the same regular pace.

Don’t let these words give you the wrong impression, Swallow The Sun indeed made a nice album, as they mostly did on their past records. Nonetheless, with all their positive attributes, it’s hard to shake the fact that, here and there, they had a rough time compensating with a few more riffs and such in order to prevent one being put asleep through listening.

Covering the whole, the material they wrote for New Moon expresses, with depth and melodic kind of music of cold fashion, the emotions and feelings of what they always tried to articulate throughout their whole career. Those are the negative effects of life as sorrow, pain, depression and sorts. Those unenthusiastic effects were truly combined well with the band’s doomish approach on New Moon. With their wintry magic they did it once again, even if this one is far from being the most high rated experience in comparison to their other submissions.

Be sure to tune in and take a deep breath before entering the frosty lake of Swallow The Sun, it will be cold as hell, yet it will be a smooth ride through the ice. Start your search for the New Moon because it will give you a taste for more Swallow The Sun.

Highlights: “Falling World”, “New Moon”, “Sleepless Swans”, “These Woods Breathe Evil”, “Servant Of Sorrow” and “And Heavens Cried Blood”.