‘New Moon’, the fourth album by Swallow the Sun, can easily be considered one of the most outstanding metal albums of the year, and it confirms the band as one of the best of its kind around nowadays. In a little bit over 53 minutes, the Jyväskylä band develops eight long pieces (the shortest of them is above five minutes), based on a murky, but melodic doom metal. It is slow and minimalistic music, rough, but beautiful with the harsh vocals by Mikko Kotamäki responded occasionally by soft female whispers. Even though, this album might be a continuation of the previous works by Swallow the Sun, the songwriting is strong and it really shines on the longest tracks, which create very different atmospheres and textures. ‘New Moon’, which is released this week in the UK and in the USA, also results very easily accessible and so it serves well as an introductory piece to the current tendencies in this genre.

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