Swallow the Sun - Hope Review
by Mark Hensch
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In years long since passed the genre of doom/death often told stories of loss, despair, depression, or melancholy. Such narratives often stopped abruptly on a sour note, and for many fans around the world, acts like Anathema, Paradise Lost, and My Dying Bride were amongst the foremost authorities of legitimate sorrow in music.
Enter Finland’s Swallow the Sun. Like any truly innovative band, Swallow the Sun seeks to take the works of their elders and expand upon it with their own unique twists. If the first doom/death bands focused on being as languishing, slow, and despairing as possible, Swallow the Sun follow this formula with the added bonuses of soothing melodicism and glimmers of honest Hope. If the doom/death of the past stopped with absolute rock bottom, Swallow the Sun instead end on the first rung of the ladder back to happiness. Though the addition of positive-sounding musical passages in laborious doom is nothing new, Hope injects a feeling of optimism amidst great suffering that few other bands in the genre I can think of do.
Take opening cut and title track “Hope.” “Hope” glides in on melancholy but warm-toned clean guitars and ominous, softly rising synths. As the song builds itself out of orchestral swells and chugging palm-mutes, what follows is an excellent dichotomy between joy and sadness. The melodies are catchy-but-sad, the vocals clean and moody. Meanwhile, the choruses stand in stark contrast and attack with fist-pumping roars and massive guitar squalls. In fact, these massively powerful portions literally force you to defy tragedy, rather than succumb to it.
This mood is no less prevalent on “These Hours of Despair.” “Despair” kicks off with an immediate flurry of double-bass and majestic, well-paced melodies. The song rises-and-falls in tempos; this see-saw effect creates fierce tension in the listener, the likes of which works wonders in furthering the urgent, trapped atmosphere.
“The Justice of Suffering” has epic, swaying harmonies and catchy, thick riffing. As the most upbeat song thus far, it relieves a lot of the agony the previous songs worked up. It is also layered with a very slick keyboard melody which hovers in the background almost constantly. The song is also daring enough to indulge crisp, refreshing clean choruses and a beautifully mesmerizing guitar solo mid-song. Warm and soothing, this song is as comforting as it is crushing.
Lead single “Don’t Fall Asleep (Horror Pt. 2),” meanwhile, is destined to be a staple of doom/death fanatics for years to come. Massive, melodic riffs walk through a gentle downpour of poignant keys, the whole composition going right for the soul. Though the majority of the song is an ethereal ballad, the magnificent chorus is a progressively-tinged skullcrusher reminiscent of Saturnus, My Dying Bride, and Opeth all at once. A funeral-dirge breakdown towards the end also works wonders, adding even more darkness to the proceedings.
“Too Cold for Tears” mournfully waltzes in on slow, meaty bass and gradually builds into an equally elephantine rocker chock full of melodic hooks amidst the crushing heaviness. It never picks up above a snail’s pace, but still manages to throw a huge number of gripping riffs at a person.
The wavering intro of “The Empty Skies” is soon replaced by one of the most joyous moments on the album---a languid melody which gradually tumbles into a whirlpool of violent slow-motion headbanging. After this it evolves into a powerful mini-epic with plenty of grandiose keyboards, brawny rhythms, and gargantuan guitars.
“No Light, No Hope,” for its part, instantly unleashes a glittering stream of fluid ebony---everything is pitch-black but flows effortlessly into one’s eardrums. As the album’s shortest song however, it feels like a fluttering heartbeat, the proverbial gasp of death. Closing cut “Doomed to Walk the Earth” is much more ambitious in scale. Though the tune is at first content to pound out even more funeral-paced yet grandly-plotted doom/death, things eventually end on a cinematic scale. First, a haunting female singer mournfully laments in ghostly wails while the band collapses into a funeral doom parade of the macabre around her; eventually loosing steam, this leads into an emotive passage of quivering, fragile guitars. These vulnerable melodies are savaged by one last blast of exquisite doom/death, only to win the day and end the CD proper.
Stirring and grand in scope, Hope is the rare album that conveys all manner of bipolar emotions while still blasting out strong, memorable music. To be blunt, this is one of the best causes of seasonal affective disorder one is likely to encounter all winter long. As such, it comes highly recommended.
Swallow the Sun’s Hope
1. Hope
2. These Hours of Despair
3. The Justice of Suffering
4. Don’t Fall Asleep (Horror Pt. 2)
5. Too Cold for Tears
6. The Empty Skies
7. No Light, No Hope
8. Doomed to Wander the Earth
CD Info and Links
Swallow the Sun - Hope Rating:9.0
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