Oh, Dem Finns!

Regular readers of my blog (assuming there are any) will recall my taste for a Finnish melodic death metal band called Insomnium. I believe I have now found their cousins in the form of a Finnish melodic doom/death metal band called Swallow the Sun. There are passing similiaries between them - emphasis on mood rather than raw technique, and an overall sensibility that "tr00 fans" (as they apparently call themselves) would likely describe as "sellout". But they're both good.

Insomnium is in general faster, more aggressive, and closer to melodic death. Swallow the Sun is slower, much closer to doom and in some cases verging upon funeral doom. But they both are moody, melodic and atmospheric, and I like them both a lot.

One thing that Swallow the Sun's vocalist does that I find particularly chilling is switching from a very deep death gurgle to a high-pitched black metal shriek apparently at whim, as showcased in Horror, Pt 1. (And that crash ending in Horror, Pt 1? Jeez. Unsettling!) And then a few songs later he sings clean and well, and then drops into a death gurgle and winds it up into a black metal shriek without taking a breath. He's versatile, if nothing else. (Just my luck, it'll turn out the clean vocalist is a session guy they hired just to make me look foolish.)