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Wrought with more dark and darker tones than before, Finland’s Swallow The Sun face the dubious task of bettering their debut album, The Morning Never Came. As echoed throughout the underground, The Morning Never Came was a melodic doom metal delight (er, downer) that captured the earthly vibe and spirit of the masters themselves, My Dying Bride. With Ghosts Of Loss, Swallow The Sun do very little to separate themselves from their debut, opting to produce an album that carries much of the same weight and results.
Akin to a snail walking uphill, Swallow The Sun keep the tempo at a near sleep-inducing pace, but achieve some truly harmonious moments in ‘Descending Winters’ and the opening of ‘Forgive Her’. The flowing, ethereal guitar work is painfully simplistic at times and only succeeds on the grounds of several layering tracks. Elsewhere, the alternating clean/gruff vocals are carefully deposited in key moments as in the verse of ‘Psychopath’s Lair’ and ‘Ghost Of Laura Palmer’. Considering the song lengths typically hit over 7 minutes, Ghosts Of Loss can either turn into a test of emotions or a test of will.
With 2 superior albums under their belt, Swallow The Sun now must figure out what road to take next now that they’ve proven themselves as a melodic doom act to be reckoned with. Nary a note out of place and ill-will, sorrow, and plight floating about, Ghosts Of Loss succeeds in becoming the second Swallow The Sun album dark enough to block out the most glowing of suns. » Firebox.fi
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