Insomnium

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Nothing better than to drive to work in a snowy landscape listening to Insomnium.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Been listening alot to Winter's Gate. Man that's such an emotional album with the story and everything and also the sonic quality is superb. A part that sticks out is 3.27 in Pt.5 or I think 28.27 or something on the album version. That first chord riff is sooo beefy on the mix that my speaks and headphones cracks, I wonder if anyone else hears that? In a way it might be a mixing issue but I love it. Sounds so meaty.

[Blind_FaithX]

Same feeling, White Christ has a poor melody with a few small highlights.. That sucks because not too long ago I was praising about how Insomnium never fails to deliver great music. Well this one is their first song in their entire discography with a poor melody IMO.

Anyway, I’m not familiar with the band Rotten Christ but hopefully it’s just the presence of their singer that changes the mood from what Insomnium usually does.

I still hope that the next album will reach their standard. I love the way they were heading to with Heart like a grave and Argent Moon. Plus many of my other favorite bands deceived me with their last releases (DT, PT, Pineapple Thief, PoS) so I’m counting on them not to do the same…

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I love how they end the album with the most intense song, part 7 is just full on assualt which makes the calm part at the end so captivating.

[Luoto]

Lots of new music today!

The Witch Hunter

EDIT: Back to the usual quality, with some nice changing time signatures towards the end!

[wolfking]

Lots of new music today!

The Witch Hunter

EDIT: Back to the usual quality, with some nice changing time signatures towards the end!

I really liked this one a lot.

[Blind_FaithX]

Same! Got to listen to it more but my first feeling is great. I feel this one will be my fav from the three first released with Lilian as #2

After some more listen of White Christ, I realized that what annoys me the most in this song is the guest singer. For the rest, the song has its moments although it’s a bit  under average for the band considering their usual quality. I guess that’s still a good sign for the album…

[wolfking]

I've only listened to each song once.  No plans to listen again until the album.

[nick_z]

Two listens in for the new album, and it's a big yes for me so far. All of the great, epic gloominess we've come to the expect from Insomnium, but it feels like there are some subtle new elements that make the record fresh and exciting. The harsh vocals seem even more "desperate" than the usual, especially on tracks like 1696 and Godforsaken (quite a journey, this one!)

I hadn't listened to the singles to keep this more of a discovery...but I'm reading here some reactions to White Christ that were not very excited. I don't know, but I absolutely LOVE the song. It's almost like a death "march"...so melancholic, heavy and powerful at the same time.

Anyway, let's see how this goes, but for now I'm liking Anno 1696 a ton 

[Luoto]

Overall this is probably the most aggressive Insomnium album to date, and I'm not really used to it from them in this quantity so I'd call it to have clear grower potential. The highs of this album are indeed high, Godforsaken is an instant classic.

Speaking of Godforsaken, an interesting detail is that the guest vocalist Johanna Kurkela titled one of her albums after the Finnish novel Sudenmorsian, which Sevänen also describes as the spiritual predecessor to the story behind Anno 1696.

[Blind_FaithX]

Amazing album.

I also changed my mind about White Christ. It’s a great song (still not a fan of the guest singer though) It’s just very different from the classical Insomnium style. Anyway, most of the album is. It really stands out of their whole discography. Since I love so much Insomnium style, it was hard for me at first but now I realize that it makes the album so much more exciting/original. It’s way more varied then the other albums they have. I’m still not sure how I rank this album in their entire discography, need to listen to it more even though I’m probably at 7-8 listens. Few other comments though:

- Godfosaken is a gorgeous track. I only wish they would use more the femal vocals with actual lyrics (she only has a few real lines at the end). I love the way her vocals contract with the main singer. The ending part where they sing together is beautiful and haunting.

- it’s amazing to see how, even though it’s a concept album, each individual song really stand out in a positive way. I feel like I’ve had more than half of the songs stuck in my head at a moment or another and I feel like the other half just need a few more listens before they do the same thing.

[wolfking]

Have had one listen to the CD in the car and no disappointments here.  A lot to unfold on future listens though.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Can't stop listening to Anno 1696, this band has everything. So much emotions cramed into one album it's haunting, aggressive, beautiful, atmospheric, sad and powerful.

[wolfking]

Can't stop listening to Anno 1696, this band has everything. So much emotions cramed into one album it's haunting, aggressive, beautiful, atmospheric, sad and powerful.

I've only had a few spins but not wanting to overplay.  I'm going to revisit it tomorrow though.

[Blind_FaithX]

Can't stop listening to Anno 1696, this band has everything. So much emotions cramed into one album it's haunting, aggressive, beautiful, atmospheric, sad and powerful.

Agreed!

[wolfking]

So.....umm......this album is fucking incredible.

[TAC]

So.....umm......this album is fucking incredible.

I'll try and hit it tonight.

[Deathless]

So.....umm......this album is fucking incredible.

I listed to it when it came out, and enjoyed it but wasn't blown away. Then I sat down again and really listened to it instead of letting it be background noise.

You are absolutely right. It's incredible. These guys just have an impressive sense of song-writing, textures, dynamics... all of it. Really good guitar work too in so many places.

[wolfking]

It certainly is a massive grower.  My thoughts compared to my first listen to now are totally different.

[TAC]

So.....umm......this album is fucking incredible.

Really nice album.

[wolfking]

So.....umm......this album is fucking incredible.

Really nice album.

Wait til you get a few more in and it grows.

[Blind_FaithX]

Indeed it’s an awesome piece of art. Anyway, after a few weeks into the album I can safely say that it doesn’t beat Heart Like a Grave (their best) for me though. I’m still not able to rank their discography yet though. The quality  level is sooo high on all albums. All I can say for now is that HLAG remains my fav.

[wolfking]

Heart is my fav too. 

There's also a 2CD version of Anno with a few bonus tracks.  I'll have to get onto those.

[Blind_FaithX]

 

Didn’t know, should check it out as well:)

[Volante99]

Went to the Insomnium/Enslaved show last night.

Unfortunately, Insomnium had just overall poor quality sound- really only heard the vocals and snare. No power that’s required for this type of show- so it took a little bit for the band (and the crowd) to warm up. Despite being a co-headlining tour- Enslaved definitely had the professional live sound going for them.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Yea it's annoying that often times the support band dosen't get access to all the speakers that the headliners use.

[Blind_FaithX]

Things I love: When Insomnium unexpectedly release an almost 10 minutes song

[TAC]

It's an excellent tune.

[wolfking]

Yeah, that's from the bonus EP that is tagged with some editions of the new album.  The three songs are a little bit different but are really nice.

[twosuitsluke]

Yeah, that's from the bonus EP that is tagged with some editions of the new album.  The three songs are a little bit different but are really nice.

I didn't think much of the new album at all, but I will say that Stained in Red and Song of the Dusk from the new EP, are excellent.

[Luoto]

Jani Liimatainen is no longer in the band. This is also not the first time he's suddenly gone no contact, it apparently happened with Sonata Arctica too.

Many of you have been asking where Jani Liimatainen is and why there has been no update about his status in the band. The answer is weirdly simple: For a long time we didn’t know where he was and we could not reach him by any means.

The reason why we did not address this situation publicly was that we hadn’t given up hope yet. Obviously, Jani has been a close friend and much-valued member of this band for years. We wanted to allow him to either solve the situation or at least provide a statement to his fans.

Sadly it is now evident that Jani and the rest of Insomnium have different priorities. We have hence agreed to go separate ways and Insomnium will continue as a 4-piece unit from here on.

This will not affect any of the forthcoming live shows: Ville Friman will be joining for the Finnish shows, Brandon Ellis (The Black Dahlia Murder) and Nick Cordle (Omnium Gatherum) have agreed to fill in the second guitar during the forthcoming North American tour.

We wish Jani all the best in the future and want to thank him for the past years spent with Insomnium.

[wolfking]

That's crazy.  Didn't realise he did that with Sonata also.