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Insomnium: Above the weeping world

29/08/11 || The Duff

Let me tell you something friends, foes and femininos, Insomnium are an outstanding melodic death metal band in the vein of Sentenced, In Flames and Opeth (this record essentially starts exactly like “My Arms, Your Hearse”), but they add a touch of extra something, an uplifting blend of doom, gloom and overcoming the shit. Really, for a band that professes musical themes surrounding loss, despair and solitude, Insomnium write some of the most rousing pick-me-up material I’ve come across, the agglomerate of catchy and heart-stirring emotion easing the overcoming of life’s many insurmountable obstacles like electricity bills, impotence and indigestion.

So this review somewhat contradictory of and far more praising than Daemo’s review of Since the Day (in my opinion the most epic effort of the last three Insomnium records), I would still say the influences are obvious but that the hooks of In Flames with an Opeth sense for atmosphere are played with a melodic sensibility untouched by many. “Above the Weeping World” is like “Since the Day” in many respects but it is punchier, stripped down of the openness and rather filled to the brim with short bursts of epic melody and chug-meaty stuff.

Insomnium are great songcrafters while indulging in a very classical vein of music; the scope is vast yet it is all condensed into beautifully rendered, moderate-to-lengthy cuts of graceful arrangement where flow is paramount and every note is yet another peak of the expressive – dense harmonies that soar, inspire and fulfil, chords rich with sentiment, folk-cleans and riffs that mount African bull elephants. First spin through this sounded like traditional melodic death, but these guys have steadily crept into one of my favourite bands for the time being when I honestly thought myself dead to the scene aeons ago.

Check the In Flames opening of delicious “Devoid of Caring”, the melodic breaks in “Change of Heart” where the drums and keys lead the charge to bring tears to my cock, the Amon Amarth sense-of-loss of “Drawn to Black”, the main leads wrought with sorrow of “At the Gates of Sleep”, or the pop-cheese mixed with joy opening riff of “The Killjoy” that reminds me of a kitten chasing a ball of string; have you ever heard anything happier than this in your death metal?!

Kittens1

If you answered ‘yes’, better men than you have lived.

To top it all off, we have the evule-chug-drive of “Blackwater Park”-era Opeth in “Last Statement” mixed with doom-fare. If I were to list one gripe it would be with all these condensed cuts of excellence, album closer “In the Groves of Death” is over ten minutes of somewhat directionless notes in a Sentenced/Anathema vein (I truly dislike Sentenced, so maybe my opinion is biased some). The closing melancholy of “Devoid of Caring” could have been quite the suitable end to an album that never sinks so low elsewhere the downcast closer exempt.

To complement all this are the thick, Johann Hegg-like vocals that are probably the core of Insomnium’s despairing tone if I were to peg anything, and a real golden-smooth production that echoes the glittering sun through yellowed leaves of a temperate Autumn forest, wildlife feasting t’upon the nourishment proffered them by wood-Elves shedding tears at the thought of mankind’s folly. Can’t recommend “Above the Weeping World” over “Since the Day” as I reckon both to be on par with each other – if you want catchier, more to the point, then I’d say you can’t go wrong with this.

Information
Released: 2006
Label: Candlelight Records
Website: www.insomnium.net
Band
Niilo Sevänen: bass, vocals
Ville Friman: guitars
Ville Vänni: guitars
Markus Hirvonen: drums

Tracklist
01. The Gale
02. Mortal Share
03. Drawn to Black
04. Change of Heart
05. At the Gates of Sleep
06. The Killjoy
07. Last Statement
08. Devoid of Caring
09. In the Groves of Death

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