(EP, Century Media, 2021)
It’s interesting when music is entwined with literature, and leads your mind to books, poetry or anecdotes you may have stumbled upon some time ago. This happened to me upon learning about INSOMNIUM’s next outing, the “Argent Moon” EP, with my mind heading straight to Ivan Gantschev’s children’s book, “Where The Moon Lives” (released in 1998), and specifically to the characteristic phrase “a shiny argent moon reflects a snippet of metallic silver in the pond, and the cut-out view of the swan shows up in dusky silhouette.”
The “Argent Moon” EP contains four compositions that pick things up from where “Heart Like A Grave” left, and this means the band sounds determined to keep evolving the Finnish melo-Death mixed with atmospheric, melancholic strokes. EP opener “The Conjurer” is so melodically rich without any redundancy that could be for the sake of making a longer track. The harmonics, the lyrics, the colorful guitars, the solos… Listening to this track feels like there is a secret area hidden deeply in the Finnish woods filled with deep emotions and only INSOMNIUM know the location and have key. Back in the day, bands like ANATHEMA, AMORPHIS and even PARADISE LOST brought melancholy into our Metal and INSOMNIUM continue this hard and sacred work, reaching even greater ends.
In “The Reticent”, what shines the most is the band’s talent to lay down these layered melodies we’ve loved to love since the “One For Sorrow” days; after every listening session, you’ll discover that little detail you haven’t noticed before, and this is thanks to the band’s ability to create this fat, melodic sound, making the entire result more dynamic, diverse and, of course, interesting. Plus, the clean vocals truly expand the shades of grey INSOMNIUM use to paint in their melancholic canvas. It’s the very same timbre-d vocals that open “The Antagonist”, chiseling their own way into your soul and memory, right before the melodic wave of guitars / keyboards enter to guide you through this cathartic experience, thanks to the band’s mastery to harness moods and turn them into unforgettable melodies. And speaking of unforgettable melodies, it’s impossible to avoid getting haunted by the intro guitars of “The Wanderer” and the melancholy they carry on their shoulders, that soon enough gets colored with some AMORPHIS-“Elegy” colors (thanks to the Pasi Koskinen-type of vocals). The orchestrations in this track, and the melodic, chorus vocals put the icing on the cake, and I honestly can see INSOMNIUM following this path in the future, enhancing their sound with more numbers cut from the same cloth.
In case you’re prepping the Fall celebrations (since this season is upon us), the melodic Death Metal gods heard your prayers and grant us with INSOMNIUM’s impressive EP, “Argent Moon”, that doesn’t just serve the purpose of filling the gap till live shows are back for good in our lives. However, there are two disappointing aspects here: a) “Argent Moon” is just an EP and not a full length release, b) we’ve got to wait a bit longer till the calendar marks September 17.
“If I can't share the moon with you
Then no one will”
8/10
Links:
www.Insomnium.Net
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www.Twitter.Com/InsomniumBand
Tracklist:
01. The Conjurer
02. The Reticent
03. The Antagonist
04. The Wanderer
Lineup:
n/a