Initial Impressions: Insomnium: One for Sorrow

Insomnium has solidified their status as the best ongoing melodeath band with this release. The Finnish band has put out a number of great releases in a row now and this album is not any different. They are one of the few bands from the much-maligned genre that has continued to put out excellent material.

Insomnium is known for their heartfelt and melancholic take on the melodeath genre. Their music is often full of sadness and pain and is often surprisingly beautiful. This style has continued once more with this release. The album opens slowly but magnificently with the instrumental lead-in track that opens into "Through the Shadows", one of the strongest tracks on the album. This track features a number of clean-singing sections, which with other groups have been often reviled, but Insomnium's always sound great.

There are a number of more aggressive songs, such as "Song of the Blackest Bird", which is as intense as Insomnium really gets. But, for the most part, this is Insomnium doing what they do best. Emotionally powerful melodeath, bordering on death/doom similar to Swallow the Sun. While the formula really has not changed at all from the last several albums, Insomnium create compelling music that feels timeless and powerful.

I am a big fan of Insomnium and have been since the very first time I heard them, on Headbangers' Ball no less. This release does absolutely nothing to change that. Insomnium continues to put out high quality somber melodeath.