SWALLOW THE SUN

Swallow the Sun paints the picture of the darkish Finnish mental landscape with a wide brush. Both the critics and the metal audiences have quickly embraced this Central Finland-based band as their new Grandmaster of Grief. It is true that in the days of their first album The Morning Never Came they were criticized — perhaps even for a reason — for too many influences from My Dying Bride and their ilk. By the time of their second album Ghosts of Loss, however, those voices have disappeared.

The most remarkable feature in Swallow the Sun's doom/death churning is its comprehensiveness. Long and multipartite as the songs may be, they always remain balanced and integrated. The band knits the atmosphere into a tight net that can hold together a multitude of moods, from quiet piano parts all the way to sudden headbanging, and again to dragging, languishing rumble. When Swallow the Sun wants to be light, it is distortion-free and tender, almost suitable for some misty soundtrack for a beautiful film. When it wants to be heavy, it reminds one of a chorus of Auschwitz inmates suffering from hangover, the band’s death grunt director Mr Kotamäki as their leader.

If you are one of those people for whom "summer" is just two letters away from "suffer", welcome to see Swallow the Sun in Ilosaarirock. When they start their dark, heartfelt delivery, it instantly feels that the first steps toward the death of daylight have already been taken.

www.swallowthesun.net

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