LIVE REVIEW: Swallow The Sun @ The Cathouse, Glasgow

Grey skies? Check. Damp settings? Check. Dark days? Check. This is the ideal environment for melodic death/doom metallers SWALLOW THE SUN to play live in Glasgow. The Finns were last spotted here in 2023, and tonight they’ve rocked up to The Cathouse to dampen the mood.

Veteran death/doom acolytes SATURNUS are perfectly matched for this lineup. In their 35-year history, this is the Danes’ debut voyage to Scotland. Understandably, a lot of the congregation present bought their ticket on SATURNUS alone, and the venue is as full as it gets tonight when they arrive on stage. The sextet ignites proceedings with the title track from their long-awaited latest album, The Storm Within. Initially, the immense drum sound of Henrik Glass taints the keyboards and guitars, but this is mostly rectified as the set flows on. The song lurches between introspective, clean guitar leads, muscular bass and restrained drums to 2000s-inspired, death-tinged heavy doom. Vocalist Thomas Akim Grønbæk Jensen shifts between agonising doom growls and suitably apathetic low-range singing.

With just a half-hour set thanks to a strangulating curfew imposed by The Cathouse, proceedings are tight given SATURNUS’ penchant for lengthy, forlorn hymns. One song from the first three albums bolsters the set. Empty Handed is a more rhythmic, danceable goth-inflected song, showcasing influences from PARADISE LOST. I Long returns to the more straight-laced death/doom groove, albeit with a hopeful glimmer woven into Indee Rehal-Sagoo’s guitar and Glass’ keyboard. The band’s stage presence is surprisingly energetic, and while the crowd appears equally surprisingly static, they fill the venue with heavy applause after each song. Closer Christ Goodbye is full of creative 90s guitar progressions and cold atmospheres, emblematic of the times when this album, Paradise Belongs to You, was released. This was an electrifying maiden trek to Glasgow. It’s criminal if these Scandinavians don’t return for a longer show.

Rating: 9/10

Finland’s SWALLOW THE SUN have challenging work set out for them to eclipse SATURNUS. With two members cloaked in hoods, they kickstart their show with the single Innocence Long Forgotten, from last year’s album Shining. The song transforms the Cathouse into a cathedral of gloom with weeping riffs paired with modern, flickering guitar sounds and a catchy, goth chorus. The sound is slightly off, but the sound engineer promptly corrects it, and the result is lush. The next song, the twenty-year-old Descending Winters, is darker, heavier and punchier – just what most metalheads desire. Vocalist Mikko Kotamäki exclusively utilises his death metal growls sharply, piercing through the venue like a well-shot arrow.

The prime cuts played tonight are predominantly from Shining and 2009’s New Moon. The stormy New Moon, the softer Moonflowers Bloom in Misery, the borderline proggy MelancHoly and the urgent drama-infused Charcoal Sky exhibit the sheer breadth of variety in SWALLOW THE SUN’s drizzly observations just from these two albums. Away from these two albums, set staple Don’t Fall Asleep (Horror, Part 2) ropes in some nostalgia with its cinematic foreboding and seamlessly translates into the venue.

One of the underrated joys of these melodic death/doom metallers is the intricate drumming from Juuso Raatikainen, perfectly backing Kotamäki’s earnest clean singing. The quintet’s performance builds momentum as it goes on, with the crowd increasingly boarding onto the headliner’s doom train. The closing song Swallow (Horror, Part 1) imparts one final layer of misery on the audience before dispatching them back into the shiny, waterlogged streets.

In contrast to the mood of the music, the performance leaves people enthused and smiling widely. SWALLOW THE SUN know how to deliver a reliable, no-bullshit, honest performance, and it’s unlikely that they’ll miss the mark.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Glasgow from Duncan McCall here: 

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