Following the release of the universally praised Winters Gate in 2016, many people thought that Insomnium had hit their peak. Where could the band go after creating a single body of beautifully captivating music that had a momentous and timeless progression to it’s 40-minute running time? It was certainly an interesting conundrum for a band that has been on a steady climb through the melodic death metal ranks over the past decade. Enter the band’s 2019 follow up Heart Like A Grave, which sees Insomnium returning to a more condensed (and multiple songs) formats, injecting new life into their music with a new member, and creating an album which sits as a true testament to their entire catalog of work to date.
Heart Like A Grave is an intriguing album. The name from the very outset mirrors the earliest press releases in inviting listeners into a world of bleak doom and sadness, and while the band has done a brilliant job in conveying that world through their lyrics, the melodic overtures on certain tracks do a brilliant job of assuring the listeners that there is always a positive accompany each negative. Tracks like “Neverlast” deal with the dark subject matter, but it’s almost impossible not to be slightly elated hearing the mature and delicately structured melody throughout its chorus. It certainly doesn’t alter the serious nature of the track, but it does make it a little less doom and gloom from what you might be expecting. This is not to say that all songs are this way though, with the title track, “Mute is my Sorrow”, and “And Bells They Toll” all conveying a weighty emotive element through their more sorrowful melodic passages.
A majority of the emotive power on Heart Like A Grave is driven through its melodic riffs and hooks performed by the band’s now trio of guitarists – Ville Friman, Markus Vanhala, and newcomer Jani Liimatainen. The interplay between these three artists following the inclusion of Liimatainen has allowed the band to embrace a more layered approach to their guitar work. While each guitarist still has their own very unique style, Heart Like A Grave sees each of those styles incorporated into a singular Insomnium sound that feels far more expansive than it ever has before.
In terms of bass and drumming, bassist Niilo Sevänen and drummer Markus Hirvonen are as concrete as ever in providing the perfect platform for the guitarists to work off. While nothing of the musical performance of these two stands out as starkly different from their impressive performances to date, the duo again deliver the goods on Heart Like A Grave
Vocally, is perhaps where the greatest change has occurred for Insomnium on this album. Sevänen’s growls feel more refined than before, with what seems like more trill placed onto his already guttural bellows, but it is the clean vocals that embody the largest growth of the band. The inclusion of Liimatainen, himself an accomplished clean vocalist, has reinforced the work already done by Friman previously and has allowed Insomnium to lean more onto the cleaner singing than it has done in the past. This becomes apparent early on in the piece with track “Valediction”, but persists all the way throughout up to the penultimate title track. The harsh/clean dichotomy shines brighter on this record than previous releases, and it will be interesting to see how this band can utilize this tool in new and exciting ways in the future.
While lyrically, Heart Like A Grave has a cohesive story to tell, it moves in a different flow to the band’s previous albums. This is not a bad thing at all, and user mileage with how it is interpreted will definitely vary – particularly in relation to an appreciation of the faster and slower tempo songs, but this increase in variety should only make this record more appealing in the long run. Overall, the album has a familiarity that fans of older Insomnium will resonate with and admire, but also a freshness that has kept their music from getting stale. Certain songs evoke Across The Dark or Above The Weeping World vibes while others wholly embrace the musical direction the band has taken over the past two releases. It’s a good mix, that has really showcased how the band has grown over their career and highlights the best attributes in new ways which feel fresh and rewarding to listen to.
Even though he band has reverted to the shorter, more standardized song layout across the album, there are still some grandiose epics littered amongst its generous runtime. Pale Morning Star hits early on in the piece, opting for a slower-paced build up before unleashing on the listener, and there is also a trio of longer tracks to close off the album with “Twilight Trails”, “Heart Like a Grave” and instrumental “Karelia” all making up the last third of the album. While these songs are all different in structure, they really reinforce what this album has set out to achieve in delivering melodic, atmospheric and melancholic songs that resonate directly with the listener’s emotive side.
When considering the album’s composition, it is important to highlight that the inclusion of Liimatainen cannot be understated. His presence is clearly felt through his clean vocals and guitar playing but is also apparent through certain song compositions and structures. There are several instances where song structures or patterns differ from what Insomnium has experimented with previously across the album, and while some of these are clearly attributable to the current Insomnium lineup experimenting with new ideas, there are others that are certainly the work of Liimatainen and are welcome additions to the band’s songwriting repertoire.
While melodic death metal is a very broad-ranging genre encompassing many different subcategories, fewer releases in that space this year will have such an impact as Heart Like a Grave will. Insomnium definitely set the bar high with their expectations this time around, and the resulting offering far exceeds what many might think they as a band are possible of. Many acts have come before them, and many will follow, but Insomnium is truly a band at the very pinnacle of the melodic death metal genre, and Heart Like a Grave will cement the band’s status as one of the premiere melodic death metal outfits of this generation.
1 comment
Listening to all weekend. Fantastic