Melodic Death Metal

[ariich]

Insomnium will release a new album called Heart Like a Grave on October 4th. They also announced Jani Liimatainen (Cain's Offering, ex-Sonata Arctica) as a new member!

The band comments: ”In 2018 it became apparent that Ville could not combine the heavy touring anymore with his another career as a lecturer in York university. Hence, we decided that a third guitarist was needed to get the machinery running properly. We did not have to look far, since Jani Liimatainen had already been a live guitarist on several tours. And since this dude is amazing musician, vocalist, songwriter and all-round nice guy the decision was really a no-brainer. Now we are stronger than ever!”

Ville comments: “Since 2010 I’ve been combining touring and band life with my science career. However, couple of years ago it became clear that it has become impossible for me to put my 100% in both. This is partly because of more demanding role at the University of York but also because Insomnium has been growing steadily year by year leading to increasing amount of touring with every album. With Jani on board, we have secured a steady live line-up to keep delivering fierce live shows all around the world with me joining the band when time allows.”

Jani adds: “It is a great honour to join such an amazing band. I had already been touring with the guys on and off since 2015, filling in for Ville whenever needed, so when they asked me to officially join the band the answer was pretty much a no-brainer. I am looking forward to sharing many more metal moments with these guys who I am proud to call my friends.”

Still spinning SotDS, such an awesome album!

Both that and Winter's Gate are amazing. Can't wait for the new one!

[ariich]

The full announcement:

In the news: New album HEART LIKE A GRAVE / Welcome JANI LIIMATAINEN as official fifth band member

On October 4th, 2019, Finnish melodic death metal masters INSOMNIUM are going to release their new album “HEART LIKE A GRAVE” via Century Media Records worldwide.

”The concept of the album is to delve deep into the heart of the Finnish melancholy. We’ve been inspired by some of the bleakest and saddest songs, poems and tales that truly capture the essence of northern gloom. Land where the frost ravages the harvest and creeps inside the souls, summer ends before it even starts, wife leaves, little brother dies in snow on a Christmas morning, and the golden days of youth are forever gone. So there are echoes of Harmaja, Rautavaara, Vainio, Peltoniemen Hintriikka and of course our own petty, miserable lives.” – INSOMNIUM.

Consisting of ten songs and over an hour of music HEART LIKE A GRAVE evolved to be an epic tour de force of Finnish melancholy. With four composers in the band the sound of Insomnium is now richer and more versatile than ever before. In the name of Nordic collaboration the Swedish wizard Jens Bogren has been doing the mixing and mastering and made HEART LIKE A GRAVE to the best sounding Insomnium album ever.

HEART LIKE A GRAVE tracklisting
1. Wail of the North
2. Valediction
3. Neverlast
4. Pale Morning Star
5. And Bells They Toll
6. The Offering
7. Mute Is My Sorrow
8. Twilight Trails
9. Heart Like a Grave
10. Karelia


Furthermore INSOMNIUM welcome new guitarist Jani Liimatainen to join the band.

The band comments: ”In 2018 it became apparent that Ville could not combine the heavy touring anymore with his another career as a lecturer in York university. Hence, we decided that a third guitarist was needed to get the machinery running properly. We did not have to look far, since Jani Liimatainen had already been a live guitarist on several tours. And since this dude is amazing musician, vocalist, songwriter and all-round nice guy the decision was really a no-brainer. Now we are stronger than ever!”

Ville comments: “Since 2010 I’ve been combining touring and band life with my science career. However, couple of years ago it became clear that it has become impossible for me to put my 100% in both. This is partly because of more demanding role at the University of York but also because Insomnium has been growing steadily year by year leading to increasing amount of touring with every album. With Jani on board, we have secured a steady live line-up to keep delivering fierce live shows all around the world with me joining the band when time allows.”

Jani adds: “It is a great honour to join such an amazing band. I had already been touring with the guys on and off since 2015, filling in for Ville whenever needed, so when they asked me to officially join the band the answer was pretty much a no-brainer. I am looking forward to sharing many more metal moments with these guys who I am proud to call my friends.”

So, great things are looming ahead! Rock on, friends!!!

[The Walrus]

My boy Jani L making waves

[wolfking]

Great band, Winter's Gate was excellent so looking forward to this.  Jani joining is a very nice surprise too.

[gazinwales]

Yeah great news for Jani L, but how is he going to juggle three bands?
Insomnium, Cain's Offering, The Dark Element, plus his acoustic thing with Timo Kotipelto and songwriting for Stratovarius?

[The Walrus]

Yeah great news for Jani L, but how is he going to juggle three bands?
Insomnium, Cain's Offering, The Dark Element, plus his acoustic thing with Timo Kotipelto and songwriting for Stratovarius?

His acoustic thing with Kotipelto seems to be an irregular sort of thing, almost like a weekend warrior type deal. Strato probably doesn't take up too much of his time, and CO seems to make a reappearance twice a decade, so in another 2 years we should be due for them. TDE I imagine doesn't take much touring time. I guess Insomnium will eat up most of his time now.

It does kind of suck because I was genuinely hoping if he would join another established band it would be Stratovarius... but oh well. At least this way I get to see him in a few weeks. 

[wolfking]

Yeah great news for Jani L, but how is he going to juggle three bands?
Insomnium, Cain's Offering, The Dark Element, plus his acoustic thing with Timo Kotipelto and songwriting for Stratovarius?

It does kind of suck because I was genuinely hoping if he would join another established band it would be Stratovarius... but oh well. At least this way I get to see him in a few weeks. 

I don't see this ever happening, or how it would ever happen.

[Luoto]

Insomnium premiered Valediction at the John Smith Rock Festival last weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKQEgGdZLAA

Sounds pretty good. The album's runtime is over an hour with 10 tracks, so that must be one of the shortest at 5 minutes.

[MoraWintersoul]

Yeah great news for Jani L, but how is he going to juggle three bands?
Insomnium, Cain's Offering, The Dark Element, plus his acoustic thing with Timo Kotipelto and songwriting for Stratovarius?

His acoustic thing with Kotipelto seems to be an irregular sort of thing, almost like a weekend warrior type deal. Strato probably doesn't take up too much of his time, and CO seems to make a reappearance twice a decade, so in another 2 years we should be due for them. TDE I imagine doesn't take much touring time. I guess Insomnium will eat up most of his time now.

It does kind of suck because I was genuinely hoping if he would join another established band it would be Stratovarius... but oh well. At least this way I get to see him in a few weeks. 

You're right, he only mostly does songwriting for Strato. Recently Timo Tolkki wrote that Strato guys have asked him to write with them, and back then I theorized that maybe Jani is pulling out and leaving space for another writing partner to come in. I imagine the amount of his touring with Insomnium will remain about the same (they're already headliners on tours and can tour the US), and both CO and TDE are more festival bands than a regular touring band. I wish CO could become more of a touring band, but the rest of the guys will probably rather do the tour grind with Strato. So I'll settle for him writing and recording more albums with CO 

Side note, I hope he assists in writing and/or clean vocs for Insomnium.

[Luoto]

Omnium Gatherum dropped a new single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj6Te-RoE0A

More of the same compared to The Burning Cold. Someone more inspired would make a better use of that outro riff.

[wolfking]

Shame it's just a standalone single.

[ariich]

Shame it's just a standalone single.

Do we know that it is?

Sounded solid enough.

[wolfking]

Shame it's just a standalone single.

Do we know that it is?

Sounded solid enough.

Yeah.  It's a song from The Burning Cold sessions released as a two song EP with a Sepultura cover.

[TAC]

Anyone familiar with Netherbird? I literally just stumbled upon them today. Their latest ablum, Into The Vast Uncharted, is amazing! Apparently they have a handful of albums. I'm listening to the previous one, Hymns From Realms Yonder, it is also damned good.

They remind me of Tribulation but a bit more metal. Really liking this.

[wolfking]

Had a quick listen to the lead single Tim, pretty nice.  Good mix of black and death metal.  I can hear tge Tribulation you speak of too.  Will xheck the full album.

[Luoto]

Full stream of the new In Mourning album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRmHQFGiwco

[ariich]

Full stream of the new In Mourning album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRmHQFGiwco

You've only just turned me into a new fan, so I'll be exploring both the new and older albums once my roulette is finished.

In the meantime, I'm giving my first new Insomnium album as a fan a listen right now, and absolutely loving it.

[wolfking]

So, Janne, Henkka and Jaska have left Children of Bodom.  Wowsers.  Hard to see the band continuing without them honestly.

[ariich]

Woah, wtf. So that just leaves Alexi and the new guitarist. It'll be interesting to see if they try and carry on as Bodom or do a new project instead.

[wolfking]

Woah, wtf. So that just leaves Alexi and the new guitarist. It'll be interesting to see if they try and carry on as Bodom or do a new project instead.

There's not even a real reason given.  It just wouldn't feel like Bodom without them IMO.

[MoraWintersoul]

Hexed (the whole album) is hitting even harder than it used to in wake of this news

[Grappler]

That's really weird.  Janne Wirman's statement was just "it's time for me to end my career with COB," with zero elaboration on leaving the band. 

COB has always felt like the Alexi show to me, so I'm sure future albums will be similar. 

[gazinwales]

Yeah strange decision for sure, but we don't know what's been going in within the band privately.
Seems like a big split between Alexi and the other 3, even more bizarre is that they've been together so long and now Alexi is sober and back writing strong material (Hexed) again.

Even more puzzling is why there is no dedicated Bodom thread on this forum?

[Luoto]

Excerpts from a fresh interview with Alexi on Soundi, a Finnish music media (translated):

- There were talks already a year ago that the guys are tired of doing this. They've had kids and stuff, and after 23 years of touring it's no wonder if someone can't take it anymore. There's nothing dramatic about this or anything like that.

- I'm not quitting anything though. Dane (Daniel Freyberg) was also really bummed about this. I told him let's continue together with a new line-up and an old school attitude.

...

- There's gonna be the good old songs, good old live show and two more familiar faces. I'd love to tell you who the drummer and bass player will be, but I can't do that just yet. They're really talented and young dudes who look great on stage. We have two options for the keys, I need to check them out more closely.

It's unclear what name they will continue under because Alexi doesn't currently own the rights to the name Children of Bodom. He says it will strongly relate to CoB regardless.

[wolfking]

His attitude seems great so good luck to him.  I will still follow his output for sure.

And yeah, weird there's no Bodom thread.

[BelichickFan]

New Mors Principium Est coming October 23.  They're one of the best things going right now, Gilliam is right up there with Petrucci for me.  He solo CD is great too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmsdPNGSQgg&list=RDSmsdPNGSQgg&start_radio=1

[wolfking]

New Mors Principium Est coming October 23.  They're one of the best things going right now, Gilliam is right up there with Petrucci for me.  He solo CD is great too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmsdPNGSQgg&list=RDSmsdPNGSQgg&start_radio=1

Such an awesome band.

[BelichickFan]

The next Mors single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCHjpyIX94I

October 23 . . .

[BelichickFan]

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2041070372693172

"The final emotional solo from the upcoming Mors Principium Est album, "Seven". I really channeled John Petrucci on this one and decided to listen to every Dream Theater album back to back in one sitting. 9 weeks later, I emerged from my room and recorded this."

[Grappler]

Repentance - God For a Day   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=499v91v2vB8

I've really been digging this album - it just came out.  The band is from Chicago and features Soil's Shaun Glass, the guitarist from Them, and the singer from Stuck Mojo.  Musically, it's very much in the vein of The Haunted.

[wolfking]

This new Mors album is excellent.

[BelichickFan]

This new Mors album is excellent.

Sure is.  I think it's my favorite of theirs, which is saying something given how good the other three with Gillion are.  My Home, My Grave is still the track I like the most with this second:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtaEuZBhEpQ

but they're all really good.  The best thing about the album is that while it's great all the way through, my top run of three tracks are the last three so it ends very strong.

[ariich]

It's bloody great. Better than the last one and on a par with the previous two.

Thanks again Kade for introducing me to them!

[wolfking]

Nothing bad here.  My fav too might be My Home, My Grave also on first listen.  Not sure where it would rank yet, needs more listens.

[wolfking]

It's bloody great. Better than the last one and on a par with the previous two.

Thanks again Kade for introducing me to them!

No problem Rich.