{"id":41933,"date":"2014-07-03T07:22:22","date_gmt":"2014-07-03T12:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=41933"},"modified":"2014-07-03T07:22:22","modified_gmt":"2014-07-03T12:22:22","slug":"insomnium-shadows-of-the-dying-sun-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/insomnium-shadows-of-the-dying-sun-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Insomnium | Shadows of the Dying Sun<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"InsomniumFinnish masters of melancholy Insomnium are back with a new studio album, their sixth overall, titled Shadows of the Dying Sun<\/em>. The band, which initially emerged as the Finnish answer to Dark Tranquillity, has really come into their own in recent years, carving out a sound that is recognizably their own.<\/p>\n

Shadows of the Dying Sun<\/em> is an extension of Insomnium\u2019s previous album \u2013 2011\u2019s very impressive One For Sorrow<\/em> \u2013 in that the unique blend of sounds is very much in place. Insomnium\u2019s sound is still rooted in Swedish melodic death metal, but there\u2019s an old school doom metal heaviness and a strong melancholy atmospheric element. Think Dark Tranquillity back in the Haven<\/em> days, Paradise Lost circa Gothic<\/em>, and recent Daylight Dies and Novembers Doom, only with that Finnish sense of coldness. The atmosphere is true to the album\u2019s title \u2013 cold, gray and majestically bleak. Not that the somber tones keep the band from unleashing their death metal influences. There are some very intense songs on Shadows of the Dying Sun where speed takes the forefront, just as other songs let sheer heaviness dominate.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to call out standout tracks when an album is so uniformly excellent. The atmospheric component makes Shadows of the Dying Sun<\/em> work extremely well as a cohesive whole. Still, there are some songs you can point to as proof of Insomium\u2019s mastery of this style of music, particularly the trio of \u201cEphemeral,\u201d \u201cThe Promethean Song\u201d and the title track, that end the album on a furious and crushingly dark note.<\/p>\n

Oh, and whatever issues people had with the overall sound quality of One For Sorrow seem to have been addressed. There\u2019s nothing on the production\/mixing\/mastering side to detract from the Shadows of the Dying Sun<\/em> listening experience.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to take several spins to really know whether Shadows of the Dying Sun<\/em> is a better album overall than One For Sorrow<\/em>, and even then that\u2019s likely to be something Insomnium fans debate until the next album arrives. The important thing is that it\u2019s another amazing album of melodic doom\/death metal. Fans of Katatonia, Dark Tranquillity, Daylight Dies, Novembers Doom and early Paradise Lost in particular should absolutely love Shadows of the Dying Sun<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Genre: Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nNiilo Sevanen (v) (b)
\nMarkus Vanhala (g)
\nVille Friman (g) (v)
\nMarkus Hirvonen (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tThe Primeval Dark
\n2.\tWhile We Sleep
\n3.\tRevelation
\n4.\tBlack Heart Rebellion
\n5.\tLose To Night
\n6.\tCollapsing Words
\n7.\tThe River
\n8.\tEphemeral
\n9.\tThe Promethean Song
\n10.\tShadows of the Dying Sun<\/p>\n

Label: Century Media<\/p>\n

Website: www.insomnium.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Finnish masters of melancholy Insomnium are back with a new studio album, their sixth overall, titled Shadows of the Dying Sun. The band, which initially emerged as […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":41935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2477,1092,9533,3139,9534],"class_list":{"0":"post-41933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-century-media","9":"tag-death-metal","10":"tag-insomnium","11":"tag-melodic-death-metal","12":"tag-shadows-of-the-dying-sun-cd-review"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}