EP REVIEW: Songs Of The Dusk – Insomnium
Finnish titans of melodic death metal INSOMNIUM continue to prove that they can firmly carry the torch for the genre with this brief addendum to their massive ninth full-length release Anno 1696 earlier this year. While the three tracks on the Songs Of The Dusk EP prove themselves as deserving their own release, the band state that this short burst of triumphant gloom serves to act as the “director’s cut material” for the previous album, continuing the dark and murky dive into the bleak history and superstitions of this period in Northern Europe.
Centred around a short story written by bassist and vocalist Niilo Sevänen, INSOMNIUM double down on this narrative that made Anno 1696 as effective as it was. While only three tracks long, Songs Of The Dusk pins a solid 22 minutes of melodeath bliss onto an already solid effort from earlier this year. Sevänen croaks over the melodic guitar on the opening track Flowers Of The Night before the familiar blackened melodies that INSOMNIUM have become known for dominate. The track ends with a key-change and bass-drumming that see out a song that could easily have been a lead single on another release.
Stained In Red starts inconspicuously enough before changing direction entirely, firing on all cylinders and jumping between haunting, erratic soundscapes not dissimilar from OPETH’s Ghost Reveries before moving into something more akin to ENSLAVED’s recent output, all the while retaining INSOMNIUM’s individuality.
Songs Of The Dusk pairs far easier with Anno 1696 than the previous EP release Argent Moon, which skews a lot closer to the doom-laden melodic death metal that fellow countrymen AMORPHIS are known for. While that may be the case, the ten-minute title track Song Of The Dusk is a sweeping masterclass of the genre that ends the EP on what the band believe to be a “more hopeful” note than the blackened fury of The Rapids which closed out Anno 1696, leaving the future open for what may come next.
Rating: 8/10
Songs Of The Dusk is set for release on November 3rd via Century Media Records.
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