Hanging Garden – I am Become (2017)

Just in time for the Fall and Winter seasons, today we have the Hanging Garden’s very dark and atmospheric “I am Become”. These Finnish Melodic Death/Doomsters unleash 46 minutes of catchy and crafty music that is quite diverse in nature. Filled with brilliant melodic Death/Doom Metal elements, this album perfectly blends the band’s old-school sound with their more modern and atmospheric influences.

Kicking off with “As Above, So Below”, we get a certain Insomnium guitar driven vibe that invites the listener to head bang while listening and settle into a dark and melodic vibe. Things go into a Swallow the Sun vibe with the aggressive riffing of “Hearthfire”, a track which features guest vocals from Tomi Joutsen from Amorphis fame. Interestingly enough, the band’s more Atmospheric Rock side comes out in the excellent “Elysium”, a piece that is quite melancholic and moody.

As “Our Dark Design” and “Kouta” roll around, the focus shifts into clean vocal arrangements (with some growls thrown in) and a trippier more experimental vibe that reminds us of Lacrimas Profundere, (recent) Tiamat and Paradise Lost. However, the band does not stray much from their roots as they perfectly balance both ‘styles’ in songs like the killer “From Iron Shores”, which goes from dreamy clean vocals to full on growl mode.

Saving the best for last, the band closes the release with a very energetic trio of songs, “One Hundred Years”, “Forty One Breaths” and the somber “Ennen”, our personal favorite track of this release. We are quite impressed on how the band mixes old and new influences and delivers one of the most melancholic releases of 2017. If you like the band’s previous release, you will certainly love this one. If you haven’t heard this band yet and love music from outfits like Katatonia, Swallow the Sun, etc., then you are in for a treat with this one.

Label: LifeForce Records

Release: October 27th, 2017

Genre: Melodic Death/Doom Metal / Atmospheric Rock

Country: Finland