Review Summary: Form is temporary, class is permanent.
Middle age for men is a time of reflection and recalibration. Dwelling on times past shapes our views and values, helping us deal with the present and plan for the future. It’s a time when our experiences inform our expectations, where our subconscious seeps further into full view. As Insomnium enter their 30th year with tenth studio album “Netherworlds”, they find themselves delving deeper into the introspection and realizations that come naturally with middle age. How do I know? I’m right there with them.
It soon becomes evident that “Netherworlds” follows the mellowing trajectory of the latter half of “Heart Like a Grave”, the “Argent Moon”and “Songs Of The Dusk” EPs and the preceding “Anno 1696”, where Insomnium morphed from menace into melancholy, as also experienced by their melodeath brethren Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork and Amorphis. As with all bands of this vintage, life changes, priorities change, interests change. Yet adapting the famous aria “The Cold Song” from the 1691 semi-opera “King Arthur” to open “Netherworlds” is an intriguing leftfield expansion of Insomnium’s musical boundaries. Form is temporary but class is permanent.
Also permanent is the unmistakable melodic Insomnium sound that washes in with “Shadowlife”, a much more subtle display of strength than in years past. Ever reflective in prose and intrinsically morose, Insomnium offer up “Remembrance” and second single “Gleam in the Black”. The latter closes out a trio of tracks that exemplifies the current incarnation, with only Tomy Laisto (guitar, background vocals) replacing Jani Liimatainen alongside Niilo Sevänen, Markus Vanhala, Ville Friman and Markus Hirvonen in Anno 2026.
As pioneers of melodic death metal in the mid 90s alongside fellow Finns Amorphis, it was cool to hear Tomi Joutsen, Tomi Koivusaari and the keys of Santeri Kallio on premier track “The Hour Grows Late”. This collaboration goes beyond mere guest vocals as the eastern tinge of Amorphis is woven in to give the track true elder statesman resonance. It all points to the evolution of melodeath by the northern innovators, arriving at a modern melodic safe sound that satisfies longtime listeners to varying degrees. Eventually the hour grows late for all of us.
Themes of despondency and death pervade “Netherworlds” as is tradition in Insomnium’s music, but there’s also hope and renewal. With “Arch in the Sky” and “Pathways of the Night” the band dream of finding meaning to the soundtrack of propelling riffs and celestial melodies. As depicted in the album art, Insomnium recognize the risk of being swallowed by a darker being, a fate reflected in the despair of “The Ethereal Sleep” with clean vocalist Friman lamenting “No words will sound through emptiness, Nothing can fill this loneliness, No love can mend this broken heart, No hope - this is the end”.
Yet in “The Banished” the band musters renewed vigor with uptempo aggression to work through the profound loss, this song a callback to the powerful “Into the Woods” from 2009’s “Across The Dark”. A poignant sense of farewell exudes from “Journey’s End”, delivered with distinctly Anathema-like tones that serve as a final recalibration but hopefully not a Final Exit. To the cynics who argue Insomnium should retire, be careful what you wish for. And to the younger cynics, don’t worry you’ll get there.
