Insomnium – One for Sorrow (2011)

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As one of the most expected releases of 2011, today we have Insomnium’s latest release: “One for Sorrow”, a truly sublime piece of work that will be nearly impossible to improve upon. Featuring a mixture of majestic melodic passages, depressive emotions, skillful instrumentation, and powerful vocals, “One for Sorrow” is definitely the finest Insomnium release to date and a near perfect release in terms of Melodic Death Metal.

Opening with the hypnotic momentum builder “Inertia”, the band quickly delivers their signature weeping guitars followed by Niilo Sevänen’s perfect growls. With such a momentum builder, the album starts on a very high note. “Through the Shadows” delivers a more unified riffing structure of pure Insomnium’s trademark sound; this creates the very melodic and dense atmosphere that we all love about the band. Here we are treated to some clean vocals that add an even more dramatic edge to this beautiful song.

The Doominess of “Song of the Blackest Bird” is outstanding and nicely flows from the first two tracks. The slowdown near the end of the song is plain brilliant and if you aren’t in full ecstasy with this release by now, you are not listening to this release properly. In a more aggressive fashion “Only One Who Waits” delivers more powerful riffs that nicely switch from aggressive to melodic in just a few notes. Our first favorite song of this release comes with the name of “Unsung”, a very powerful and emotional tune that has the band’s style all over it, but is still fresh enough to not dull the listener. The slowdown section with the clean vocals is beyond amazing, truly heartfelt and beautiful.

In a very nice acoustic/atmospheric fashion, “Decoherence” changes the pace of the album a bit, but nicely sets up the right mood for our favorite track of the album. The atmospheric elements of this song are just perfect and quite simple. “Lay the Ghost to Rest” is indeed our definite favorite track of “One for Sorrow” due to the high dose of weeping guitars and growls. This song while a bit more aggressive than some of the album’s tracks, delivers great guitar work and very powerful melodic sections. The acoustic slowdown in the middle of the track nicely changes the flow of the song and adds a deeper and more depressive edge to it. However, our favorite part is the vocal harmonies near the end of such a powerful track.

As the triple icing on a delicious cake, “Regain the Fire” adds a very catchy chorus section and riffing structure to an already excellent album. Also, “One for Sorrow” features a very nice musical progression through the track, and delivers more emotional riffs and growls that anybody could handle. By this time we are beyond ecstatic with such an amazing release and we are completely glad we can start listening to it all over again.

When it comes to meeting and surpassing expectations, Insomnium has managed to do this with every single release they have produced. “One for Sorrow” is easily one of the best releases we have heard in years and we hope it has the same impact with all fans of the band and the genre. If you are looking for the best Melodic Death Metal of 2011 (yeah, we said it!) be sure to grab a copy of this amazing album and blast it full volume.

Band: Insomnium Album: One for Sorrow
Label: Century Media Records

Release: October 17th, 2011

Oficial Site myspace
Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Country: Finland

Rating: 96/100
Year: 

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