“Enemy” and “The Void” are the most accessible tracks on the album, with gorgeously catchy vocal lines and a sense of melancholy that brings to mind the best work of Katatonia. Elsewhere Moonflowers softens its stance and lets the gothic undertones of the music come more to the fore. “Woven into Sorrow” is another slow-burn piece that follows similar musical coordinates, accentuating the doom/death component of the music. This is probably the bleakest and most forlorn piece of the record, to the point that it almost hurts to listen to it. Album closer “This House Has No Home” follows a similar inspiration and reconnects also lyrically with the opener. “Moonflowers Bloom in Darkness” is probably the best track here, opening with a sombre, disheartened waltz that suddenly explodes in a stunning blackened chorus where Mikko Kotamäki’s pained vocals paint an all too real image of the “fires of Misery” he sings about. The record opens and closes with what are the most intense and dramatic pieces of the whole LP. With all these elements in place, the album offers a near perfect combination of all the elements that Swallow the Sun have been incorporating into their sound for years now, from the sludgy tempos of doom, to the ferocity of black/death metal, to the romantic atmosphere of gothic metal, to the mellowness of post-rock and the sophistication of progressive metal.ĭespite the common lyrical and sonic themes, there is a great deal of variation across the 8 tracks of the album. The strings greatly contribute to the dramatic atmosphere of the record and provide a stark contrast with the rest of the electrified instrumentation. The symphonic flair provided by the strings is probably the most distinctive aspect of the album that draws a clear distinction relative to its predecessor. The other main ingredient of the album are the string arrangements played by the Trio N O X, a Finnish group of classical musicians playing violin, viola and cello. The keyboards are also used sparingly and even the guitar riffs are used in moderation, leaving arpeggios and simple, forlorn leads take the spotlight. The music feels intentionally unadorned: drums and bass often play very simple patterns, sticking to the beat without too many embellishments. The songs swing continuously between minimalistic sections dominated by delicate guitar arpeggios and beautiful string arrangements, and violent accelerations with distorted guitars, devastating growls and blast beats. Doom gothic metal full#The music perfectly captures this dark mood: it is slow, oppressive and full of dramatic contrasts. The 8 tracks of Moonflowers tell the intimate and unashamedly personal tale of Raivio’s pain and depression triggered by the loss of Aleah, symbolized by the album’s shocking cover art that Raivio painted with his own blood. There are subtle differences in mood and style, though, which ensures Moonflowers tells its own tale of pain and sorrow and does not just replicate what had already been told by the previous album. Written entirely by Raivio and recorded by the same line-up as the previous album (minus keyboard player Jaani Peuhu, who here only provides backing vocals), Moonflowers draws inspiration from the same sorrowful place as Swallow the Sun’s previous LP and it can be considered in many ways its lyrical and musical continuation. The new album follows what many consider to be the pinnacle of the Finnish band’s career so far, 2019’s When a Shadow Is Forced into the Light, a gorgeous, dark record suspended between doom/gothic metal, prog and post-rock and packed with tremendous emotional intensity due to the dramatic events that inspired its songwriting (the untimely death of Juha Raivio’s partner, Aleah Stanbridge). Melodic doommasters Swallow the Sun have just released their eight full-length album, Moonflowers, which came out on 19th November 2021 via Century Media.
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