Insomnium

Only a handful of bands - melodic death metal or otherwise - reach their tenth studio album with the creative fire still burning white-hot. Fewer still manage to deliver the defining statement of their entire career. After nearly three decades and a catalogue filled with landmark releases, Insomnium have not only met that challenge - they've surpassed it. Like a bolt of lightning tearing across the mist-shrouded forests of Karelia, Netherworlds (out on October 16 via Century Media) arrives as the sound of Insomnium at their most complete and compelling. The Finnish masters of melancholic heaviness have refined every element of their signature style into something both devastatingly heavy and richly atmospheric. Towering riffs, sweeping melodies and moments of haunting fragility collide in a definitive statement of the band's identity. "One of our goals was to take a couple of steps back towards the classic northern melancholy of albums like Shadows of the Dying Sun and Heart Like a Grave", continues Vanhala. "Reaching album number ten naturally made us look back as well", Friman states. "You could say we adopted a bit of a 'Best Of' philosophy. It may sound like a cliché, but the goal was simple: write songs that capture everything people love about classic Insomnium—while still pushing the sound forward with a few new twists."