Send "Swallow The Sun " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Sputnikmusic |
 Executing a concept album is not so much a science as it is an art – there is no formula for creating the perfect piece. As such, there is a certain finesse required to turn an idea into music, especially if you wish to extend that idea to cover an entire album. There aren’t many concept albums out there – metal concept albums, specifically – that transcribe their inspiration into aural form with this artistic finesse, so it is a daring path to take, especially if your band isn’t intent on making the album different from your previous work. Swallow the Sun, on Emerald Forest and the Blackbird, attempt to defy the odds and write a concept album that takes their trademark melodic death/doom metal sound and transcribes it into an ode from a father to his dying child; an exploration of the transition from life to death, and what it means to leave this world behind. Precarious stuff, yes, especially when taken with a heightened sense of melodrama that Swallow the Sun have shown us they are fully capable of using. One must be careful at this point, because the line between pretentiously melodramatic and emotionally lifeless is a thin one.Sadly for Swallow the Sun, they have misjudged just how narrow this margin was. Rather than erring on the side of over-emotion, they have stumbled into the realm of stagnation. The riffs feel like all of the band’s b-sides from the past four albums mashed into one, with the occasional melody taking flight above the fetid pool of unmemorable riffs. The superb production placed on them may be deceiving, because beneath the thundering production of the chords and the soaring keyboards lies, well, not much of anything worth mention. The catchiness of “Hate, Lead the Way” is fun until you realize that it has almost zero complexity, especially when looked at in relation to what the band has done in their back catalogue. Even still, just taking the album for what it is, things don’t look much brighter. The level of emotion expected in an album with a concept that carries such weight as this one should be astronomical, but there is little on Emerald Forest and the Blackbird to make the listener care about what the record is about. Aside from the wayward spoken-word passage to cue the listener into what is going on, almost nothing reflects the concept. “Labyrinth of London (Horror Pt. IV)” appears to have no connection to the concept whatsoever, and even the more sincere numbers like “This Cut is the Deepest” harbor counterfeit despondency. Much like their previous album New Moon, however, it is hard to cast aside the value of the album. There are melodic licks that are infinitely pleasing and the occasional guitar solo to churn the aura of stagnation around. While the album never comes across as utilizing either its doom metal or melodic death metal elements to their fullest, it does offer a bit of both worlds. The slow pace allows for songs to swell and recede, while the melodies offer a quick fix when the instruments don’t seem to go anywhere. The vocals of Mikko Kotamäki have always been arguably the band’s strongest asset, allowing for the use of deep growls, harsh rasps and relatively good, emotive cleans; a talent who is utilized quite frequently to give the album some much-needed life. There is a lot here that is decent to good, but precious little that rises above that. The keyboards wash much of the riffing, but are rarely worth praise; the bass is there, it just does nothing. Unfortunately, with such lofty aims given the fact that this is, at its core, an album that is built around a defined concept, Swallow the Sun achieve little....full text |
| Heavyblogisheavy |
| In terms of innovation and experimentation the genres of doom and melodic death metal aren’t exactly pushing the envelope now-a-days. As with several other genres there seems to be a stint of stagnation going around. It’s a shame, but it’s hard to ignore. Each year album after album is released that just feels like the same thing that’s been heard before. Everything feels recycled and phoned in, and no one wants to try something new, and it really is something worth bitching about. However, sometimes you have to just accept the fact that some albums can be outrageously good, even without all that much innovation. Emerald Forest and The Blackbird, Swallow the Sun’s fifth full length album sounds exactly like any fan of their previous works would expect, but somehow that doesn’t seem like a bad thing, and it just proves that these musicians can still entertain, even if they’re not changing or reinventing anything. The winning aspect in an album like this is the coherence of all the material. Instead of just showcasing a collection of tracks, Swallow the Sun create an eerie atmosphere on this album that builds and moves. Motion. That’s what this album is all about. Everything seems to be moving toward…something. Each track seems to lead into another, and build upon the tension that was created in the previous. It feels like there’s a goal, or a climax coming up, and this sort of songwriting keeps the listener wanting more, clinging on to what he or she is listening to, just waiting for that explosion that they know is coming. There’s an ebb and flow to all this, like a movie or any other form of storytelling. I don’t think Emerald Forest is a concept album, but with all the changing tones, and moods it easily could have been....full text |
| Jorzine |
| The Finnish melodic deathdoom metal band "Swallow The Sun" is tainting all the walls of the doomdeath metal scene with the new record "Emerald Forest and the Blackbird". This album is a total aggression and depression eclipse, the existing of life is fully obscured by the aggression and the charming compositions and performance, The album is a cryptic poem and the members used their instruments to write its words and the vocals declare every word perfectly, absolute gloom of sixty-five minutes are enough to steal you from your world and get you trapped within this epic poem. This is the fifth studio album after the successful releases (The Morning Never Came, Ghosts of Loss, Hope, and New Moon), a new direction has been made by the band with this record, and this release features guest vocals by Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzen, and she has done a great job in the track "Cathedral Walls" that has been released with a music video in the beginning of 2012. The artwork shows a Emerald eye surrounded by black feathers, with a scene of forest inside the eyes and with some taints around the whole figure....full text |
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