Swallow The Sun - New Moon

When Finnish melodic death/doom metal band Swallow The Sun released their 2003 album "The Morning Never Came", it came as a refreshing piece of Doom Metal which showcased the depressive, slow and the minimalistic tendencies of doom metal. It was also combined with the bombastic intensity of death metal to create something that at least sounded somewhat unique within the world of Death/Doom. The sound continued with little change through 2005’s "Ghosts Of Loss" and 2007’s "Hope". While the music was generally enjoyable and well-played, the band sounded like they were in danger of becoming stagnant.So now, six years later Swallow The Sun have finally released New Moon, an album that for my taste's is damaged by the fact that it sounds exactly the same as everything else they ever did. The atmosphere of the album reeks of deja vu and while we have new songs to listen to, it is all a case of heard it all before. I mean, it even had me checking the song-titles because I was wondering if they simply just re-recorded old tunes. The depressive and down-tuned guitars strike heavy chords as usual and the keyboard melodies are still there to add a bit of harmony. The album sounds extremely dark and sounds more evil than previous albums, this alone is really the only difference with this and earlier albums. "And Heavens Cried Blood" is one of the best tracks because the use of melody and heaviness highlight the slow pace of the doom influences but also injecting a sense of freshness to the sound. It also serves as a some sort of contrast being a little more up-lifting compared to the rest of the album which is real depressive.The boring drum work, which doesn’t really do anything outside of keeping a simple beat makes the songs sound un-dynamic. The same goes for the vocals, which Mikko Kotamki puts in what can only be describe as a run of the mill performance. The vocal delivery switches between guttural and raspy with nothing in between. They aren’t inherently bad because of this lack of change, in fact they are quite good, it’s just that the lack of variation lacks emotion for this style of music. Its not all bad however as if you like this band, then you will dig "New Moon" as it sounds like classic "Swallow The Sun" in ever way possible.The songwriting is fairly solid and the production is of a real high standard but you may notice the way the album flows is kind of weird. The best tracks lay in the middle and end of the album with the weakest tracks being at the start of the CD, unusual as it is usually the other way around.“Weight of the Dead” the final track stands out as a real strong tune. A total epic 9 minute plus track that condenses every sound from the album into the one track although its a bit synth-heavy in parts. If you never liked the band before, this album wont change anything but if you a newcomer to the depressive Death Doom that Swallow The Sun has been delivering for the past 10 years then this is as good as anything they have ever done. 7/10

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