Review Summary: The album title says it all.
My first encounter with doom metal was a failure. A while ago, I saw this band called
Cianide and they played doom/death. I checked it out and was nearly bored to death! I have never experienced such slow music before, but it was also repetitive which made things even worse. I started to move towards other metal genres until I gave doom metal one last shot.
Forgotten Tomb and
Thergothon quickly became two of my favourite doom metal bands. Just a few months later I noticed a review about a melodic doom/death metal band from Finland which immediately sparked my interest. Their name is
Swallow The Sun, a band that started in the year of 2000 and have been on the move on ever since. Their music is slow, but not as slow as Funeral Doom (which is equally as slow as a depressed snail trying to move forward). Slow but still very melodic, atmospheric and sad, keyboards and guitars are accompanied by deep messy growls and screams. This creates a beautiful atmosphere of sadness and frustration that actually touches you at times.
The veil of fog covers her velvet skin
As she kneels naked under the moon
The Morning Never Came was their debut album and this album proved right from the beginning that this was serious business. Everything in this album shines; the melodies are different for each song, the vocals have a good variety and no track sounds similar to another. The overall music is heavy, atmospheric and melodic. Even though the songs follow a similar song pattern they deliver different types of emotions.
Through Her Silvery Body is a sad song but when you listen to it you will feel the sense of frustration.
Hold This Woe is probably the only song that is really mournful, and with its clean vocals it just enhances the sad melodies which makes this track even better.
Silence Of The Womb, on the other hand, doesn’t really stand out because of the atmosphere but it delivers a bit more heaviness and is also darker, but it still feels a bit depressive and scary though. As you can see, the tracks don’t stand out as a whole but each song represents an element of sadness.
The skies blow the last light away
Summer exists only in the writings of the wise
We prepare for our final run
When the winter swallows the sun
The vocals shift between (as I mentioned before) deep messy growls/roars, desperate enchanted screams and calm, clean vocals. Even if the growls are the main course it doesn’t get repetitive, as the screams show up a little now and then while the clean singing steps in to create some extra texture. The guitars create most of the melodies alongside the keyboards. Doom metal has never been claimed to be a technically challenging metal genre so don’t expect any fancy riffing here. The rhythm sections are played with simple and heavy power chords which are followed by a melodic lead guitar. There are different kinds of acoustic guitars that cling out a little now and then, and all solos are mostly calm and melodic. The bass is hardly noticeable, as you can hear it when most of the other instrument goes quiet but it doesn’t add that much to the sound since it just follows the rhythm guitar. The keyboards create a huge weave of atmosphere and offer up strong melodies that help the tracks differentiate from one another. Most tracks have this symphonic background and at times there are also some ordinary piano tunes also, like on
Through Her Silvery Body and
Hold This Woe. There is, however, a slight overuse of the keyboards because most of the other instruments don’t have a chance to standout, or at least have a chance to get heard. But it is the keyboards that add the most sound and texture to the atmospheres and the actual music so it all works out. Most drum patterns are slow but they are not as slow as Funeral Doom drumming. There is not a vast variety of patterns, but there are rare occasions where the drums pick up some speed but for most of the time there is only slow simplistic drumming.
One night it happened
The morning never came
Now it's been seven years ever since
The season of dark fell upon us
And only few still wait for the sun
An excellent doom metal album with few minor flaws. There are probably only two things about this album that might be a bit hard to digest, and those would be the keyboards and the vocals. If the band could’ve ditched some of the atmospheric melodies and use more ‘’ordinary’’ piano notes the music would probably have made a bigger impression. The growls are another fault, since they don’t sound so professional or experienced. It sounds like the singer spits a lot while he performs his growls, and this makes them sound juicy and messy, so it will probably bore you after a couple of listens. The rest is pretty much flawless, as the different types of emotional melodies are mixed with aggression and heaviness, and a varied vocal performance lowers the level of repetitiveness.
The Morning Never Came is a great gateway for those who want to explore the doom metal genre, and for whose who already like doom metal should take a look at this. It is an excellent debut album but there is a risk that you will find it a bit hard to get used to in the beginning and it might bore you after a couple of listens.
Recommended Tracks
-- Hold This Woe
-- Through Her Silvery Body
-- The Silence Of The Womb
-- Under The Waves
4/5
