Entry 735 - Sentenced - Down

Style: Depressive rock/metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Suicide, depression, loss, just about anything negative that can happen is in this album

Thoughts: I have no idea where to start with this album. There is so much to talk about: my personal history with it, the change in style, the lyrics... really everything. 

Down is an album that took me over a decade to come around on. My favorite Sentenced album - by a large margin - is Amok. I thought it had the perfect mix of melody, brutality, and innovation to be something really special. Taneli finally found his vocal style and the band perfected their death metal sound. Then Taneli left, and everything changed.

Ville Laihaiala took his place on vocals, and with the change in vocalists came a monumental shift in style. Instead of death metal it was some hybrid of gothic metal and hard rock. There are small traces of the previous style, but for all intents and purposes this is a completely reimagined band.

Where my personal struggles with the album came was the fact that they had completely abandoned the groovy melodic death metal of Amok. There was no trace of anything harsh on the album, and that blinded me to anything good that could possibly be on Down (the fact that Frozen and Crimson both were in almost the exact same style just worse didn't help me warm up to this album either).

It wasn't until The Cold White Light came out that I paid attention to the band again. They finally put out a killer album with Ville, and that was enough for me to finally revisit Down... and I'm truly glad I did. Down has so many hidden treasures in it that I was completely blind to in the past... all because of a vocalist change. 

First off, Ville is a fine vocalist. His gruff voice fits the music on Down nearly perfectly. The lyrics have also taken a stark turn. Instead of violence and war the band now sings about personal struggles, depression, and even suicide. 

Right out of the gate the album starts with Noose - an unapologetic look at what it takes for someone to take their own life. The music matches this darker tone as well, instead of Amok's almost playful nature the music here is sombre and reserved. The riffs are still heavy, but require more emotional commitment from the band and that carries over to the impact it has on the listener. 

Almost every riff in the album is in a minor or chromatic key. While this is nothing new for metal, the way it's executed here is a bit more sobering. The combination of lyrics and riffs put a dark cloud over whatever speakers is playing this music... so much so that I have to be careful when I listen to it. Even though the riffs rock and the vocals are well executed - the album puts me into a depressed state more often than not. It's dangerous. 

After many years and a lot of history with this album I think I can finally settle in on a solid opinion. Despite the change in style, there has not been a loss of the quality of the music. Down is one of Sentenced best albums and the fact that it's in my collection proves that (the same cannot be said for Frozen and Crimson). The first four albums show the band evolving at a rapid pace, and Down was the point where they found their long term sound. It's a damn shame that Miika passed away so young, but he left one hell of a legacy behind him.

Written March 5th 2024