Label: Century Media
Release date: February 24, 2023
Production: Insomnium
Album length: 50.26 min
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Rating: 9/10
Finnish melo-death melancholics Insomnium hardly need an introduction. The band has been around for a quarter of a century, and with their third album, ‘Above the weeping world’, released in 2006, they nailed down their signature sound, which every record since has only polished further. During the pandemic the Finns put out a four-track EP, Argent Moon (review HERE), and now, following the excellent ‘Heart like a grave’ from 2019, they’re back with a brand new album, ‘Anno 1696’.
This time around, just like with 2016’s ‘Winter’s Gate’, the band decided to go for a concept album, and just like with ‘Winter’s Gate’, the core idea is a short story written by vocalist/bassist Niilo Sevänen, who also happens to be the director of culture in the Finnish city of Kotka.
The last thirty years of the seventeenth century were brutal for the people of Scandinavia, with bitterly cold, endless winters and short, barren summers leading to a long stretch of poverty and famine. The clergy, of course, tied all of it to the works of Satan, which kicked off savage witch hunts and the resulting slaughter of innocents, mostly women. That’s exactly the period Niilo picked for his story, and by extension for the concept album.
The opener 1696 kicks off in a gloomy mood with ritual drumming, acoustic guitars, a bit of piano and the sound of wind in the background, while Niilo, in storyteller mode, drops us in the woods, far from the churches and the dying king. The music then morphs into wild melodeath with atmospheric black metal elements, before shifting into more classic Insomnium melancholic melodies. Before long, though, Markus uses his drum transitions to steer the song out of the melodic stuff and back into raging blast beats, while the guitar trio of Friman/Vanhala/Liimatainen once again layers on the classic melodic touches. Next up is the album’s first guest, none other than Sakis Tolis (Rotting Christ), who joins Niilo on the mid-tempo ‘White Christ’ to ominously herald the arrival of the religious extremists and the consequences their coming brought to the impoverished Nordic countryside. The song then turns into an extremely melodic ballad, but harsh reality quickly cuts in and the distortion takes over again as the voice of cruel reality.
“I hold the flame of the White Christ, At the edge of the dark”
Then comes the epic, eight-and-a-half-minute ‘Godforsaken’, which opens with the angelic voice of Johanna Kurkela, who is also the wife of Nightwish founder and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen. The song is hugely varied and winds like the Kemijoki river through Lapland, weaving together different rhythms and styles: Johanna’s ethereal vocals, Niilo’s death metal growls and the guitarists’ clean vocals, all backed by string parts on the keys. Next is ‘Lilian’, the album’s protagonist and first single; I’d say it’s a classic Insomnium track with all the ingredients they’ve been honing on the last few albums.
“I drift in twilight, I stray into the dusk, I’m lost in her eyes”
‘Starless Paths’ sends us down a road that sounds typical of the band yet doesn’t lean on any set forms or formulas. Past the halfway mark, the song flirts quite a bit with black metal elements, swaps that style for something more epic, and then soon replaces it all with acoustic interludes. It’s a proper merry-go-round that might not click right away for longtime fans, but after a few spins it gets under your skin. ‘The Witch Hunter’ then brings a real Amorphis vibe to the record, and the guitar solos add the cherry on top.
”To great heights has the power of Satan risen in this country, The Antichrist is like a wolf on the prowl, hunting the weakest”
‘Unrest’, which follows, is an acoustic ballad with clean vocals that at times recalls ‘The Wanderer’ from their recent pandemic EP ‘Argent Moon’, except this one stays fully acoustic, with orchestral keyboard layers lifting the atmosphere. That mood then turns into a terrifying finale with ‘The Rapids’, where brutal vocals, the thunder of a waterfall and raging rapids wrap up the tale of the hapless Lilian and her unexpected savior.
“May Lord in his mercy forgive my deeds, May Lord in his mercy absolve
The roar engulfs us, Death’s embrace, I redeem this soul of mine”
Insomnium’s ninth studio album proves why the band is so beloved: a superb story paired with top-notch musicians who’ve been playing together for so long simply has to work. This time they showed they can, and dare to, step outside their comfort zone, which may take more than one listen for the songs to “settle in”, but trust me, it’s worth it! For the full experience, I recommend picking up the so-called artbook, which, besides the album and a large-format book with lyrics and photos, includes Niilo’s story of Lilian, the basis for the whole record, in both English and Finnish, and on top of that you get the exclusive EP ‘Songs of the dusk’ with three bonus tracks and a total running time of 22 minutes.
Author: Sebastijan Videc
Track list:
1. 1696
2. White Christ (feat. Sakis Tolis)
3. Godforsaken (feat. Johanna Kurkela)
4. Lilian
5. Starless Paths
6. The Witch Hunter
7. The Unrest
8. The Rapids
Line-up:
Niilo Sevänen – vocals, bass guitar
Ville Friman – guitar, backing vocals
Markus Vanhala – guitar
Jani Liimatainen – guitar, backing vocals
Markus Hirvonen – drums
