About.com Rating



Swallow the Sun, with its new 66 minute-plus Emerald Forest and the Blackbird, finally hits the U.S after four months in release in Europe with a heaping export of that abundant Finnish national resource, depression. Grab a favorite energy drink and hunker down with the album. Be forewarned that it’s not meant to be The Morning Never Came, The Deadly Swallows, Part II, or some such. It’s an album where STS chases an updated sound, though they do keep centered on the conceit that all hope is pointless.

The first song is a charcoal briquette of helplessness about a heartbroken father reading to his mortally-ill son. Swallow the Sun certainly has expanded their musical palette, but not gone overboard in an Opeth-like dive into the Dream Theater pool. STS keeps it black, absorbing and stays away from the My Dying Bride jams with Barren Earth territory.

Arctic doom metal requires repeated listens before full appreciation sets in. Emerald Forest… is no exception, especially with its unusually dense lyrics and mega-elaborate arrangements. The opening title track scratches at the door of 10 minutes, but the other tracks don’t even break the nine minute sonic barrier. For STS, this is nearly a proto-punk album as far as song lengths go. The first track is probably the CD’s most fully realized song, though STS Finn-boys may wonder what happened to their band. These fans should feel that old black magic though with “Hate, Lead the Way” or “Labyrinth of London.”

“The Cut is the Deepest” is a cleanly sung song with a succinct arrangement.

It’s a decent, albeit meandering, 5 minutes 20 seconds with a nearly memorable melody that comes as close as it gets to a single. Doom bands that build a reputation upon melodic elements need to deliver the goods at some point. Swallow the Sun shines in patches, but don’t quite break through the gloomy clouds over the course of the album.

STS has a constructed a listenable portfolio of songs that quite aren’t up to their high standards, but should keep their fan base happy. In Finland, the album charted at number 4. Swallow the Sun’s biggest fault may be the same one committed as of late by a slew of their genre mates. It’s as if doom metal has become too narrow for the ambitions of many in the scene.

“Cathedral Walls” includes a guest turn by Anette Olzon from Nightwish. STS are gentlemen enough to reserve the album’s best phrases for her. She sings with graceful understatement, even sensuality, in a hopeless doom kind of way. Aleah Stanbridge (Trees of Eternity) adds decadently luxurious vocal beds under “Emerald Forest and The Blackbird” and “Cathedral Walls.” Throw in the nifty pipe-organ embellishment and “Cathedral Walls” becomes quite interesting.

The rather oddball “April 14th” is an homage to the great Peter Steele, and has a few sly Type O Negative lyrical references. STS receives high marks for not going the thinly-veiled cover route. It’s a straightforward wave goodbye.

Swallow the Sun is a superior band who have taken a mid-sized risk with Emerald Forest and The Blackbird. It’s inconsistent, bouncing back and forth between okay and meh, often within the songs themselves. The band’s shift in sound may take them to a better album. It would be stupid to bet against them.

(released September 4, 2012 on Spinefarm Records)



Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.