ALBUM REVIEW: The Broad and Beaten Way – Sinisthra
When Tomi Joutsen got the call from AMORPHIS to take the role of lead singer in 2005,he left original band SINISTHRA floundering. The Finns, who have been around in one form or another since 1999, had one full album under their belt in Last of the Stories of Long Past Glories and were beginning their own climb up the rankings, albeit steadier than they might have liked; when AMORPHIS took off and Joutsen‘s time became less available, the band slowed even further. Fifteens year later and SINISTHRA are back with their sophomore album The Broad and Beaten Way, out now via Rockshots Records.
It’s likely that very few will have been aware of SINISTHRA until now and, upon hearing opening track Eterne, very few might wonder why Joutsen brought his focus back to them. It starts straight away as opposed to building in gradually, has a nicely balanced production and moves through swiftly, but the reality is that it’s significantly less interesting than what could have been expected. Oh how the tables turn in the space of a few minutes. Second song Closely Guarded Distance is a thirteen-minute epic that sprawls beautifully, Tim Vainio on keyboards giving a minimal yet powerful backing that wraps the track in a grandiose ship and sails it down a river of progressive guitars (superbly provided throughout the record by Markku Mäkinen and Marko Välimäki) and Joutsen‘s emotive vocals. The bar is set, and as things progress, it remains just as high.
Halfway to Somewhere Else combines snippets of post-rock and classic 1970’s rock within its boundaries and remains gentle and seductive before turning on a sixpence and bringing in a heaviness that works so wonderfully it’ll bring grown men to tears. Morningfrail continues the pace and adds a lot more colour into what is becoming a gorgeous musical tapestry that SINISTHRA are weaving. Safe in the Arms of Everlasting Now is Tomi at his very best, his voice drifting through the air with a silkiness that is very difficult to obtain and maintaining the mellowness that has preceded it. By the time the sumptuous Ephemeral brings things to a near-perfect climax, the fears that this album would stumble towards its finish have long been washed away. Because of the progressive nature, it will certainly take a few listens before every single layer and texture can be fully appreciated, but the immersive journey that it takes you is, undoubtedly, worth ever second.
It’s true that you can have too much of a good thing, and people who consume a lot of music will inevitably have those moments where things feel stale and unsatisfying, leaving them with a hole that seems impossible to fill. The Broad and Beaten Way, in the space of 42 exhilarating minutes, will remind those individuals why they fell head over heels for their tunes in the first place. Considering that there’s been a full decade-and-a-half between releases, imagine what SINISTHRA could have achieved if things had been different and their career could have run in parallel with that of AMORPHIS. This isn’t just a recommendation that you should listen to this record, it’s a command.
Rating: 9/10
The Broad and Beaten Way is out now via Rockshots Records.
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