Swallow The Sun – New Moon (2009)

“New Moon” is one of the albums that I have been looking forward since the beginning of the year. The title name by it self was about to just make me discard it all along, since I’m a Twilight saga hater (and I have read the first 2 books). But bearing the title, Swallow The Sun, shows how much they have matured as a band, and how their style is getting shaped into a more Melodic Death Metal than Doom Metal genre.

The Black Metal influences that some of the band’s members have (Mikko plays with Alghazanth and he and Aleksi have Empyrean Bane, a Melodic BM band), making this album the most aggressive the band has ever released. But they haven’t lost their Doomier aspect either, since they still feature their ‘older’ sound.

I think “New Moon” shows a very interesting evolution from this band. While keeping their traditional sound, they have managed to make it a more aggressive and in your face style, but while showcasing the feeling of ‘hopelessness’ that the bands prior album’s gave to the listener.

The variety of vocal styles, provided by Mikko, make this album very diverse since it changes from clean vocals to DM growls (my favorite ones) and BM shrieks, the way they are interleaved in the songs is great since the band manages to have a vocal style depending on the emotions transferred by the songs. I would have liked to hear more complex layering of the vocals since this would have sounded very good (and there is some done in the “New Moon” song), but I think on the live setting this would not work very well.

The guitars feature the traditional STS style, creating the basis of the melody of the entire music (in my opinion). They sound sometimes like Insomnium, so you know they are still awesome. The drum track sometimes gets drowned in the mix but, it manages to pop-out when needed. The bass guitar track, like in many Melodic DM or Doom songs, it’s there in the background doing its job of accompanying the music but ready to be highlighted at any moment, and on this album you can notice that happening more than a few times. The keyboards are just there to provide enough atmosphere to the music to get that bone chilling ambiance that the music is beautifully caressed in.

“New Moon” is a complete rollercoaster ride, going from eerie melodic parts to full blown aggressive sections. This album is the band’s most diverse and best work up to date. Every element fits together with perfection and you can see how this band has been improving over time. STS have managed to produce one of the best albums of the year.

Release: November 17, 2009

Country: Finland