Style: Melodic death metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: The full realization of the potential this band has shown over the past few albums.
Thoughts: Omnium Gatherum is the audio equivalent of a volcano that had been threatening to erupt for nearly a decade. They had released some real duds, but almost every album had at least one or two songs that were outstanding. They kept showing flashes of potential that were never fully realized... at least not until this album.
New World Shadows was an album that I was legit excited for when it released. I heard that Dan Swano was producing it - an automatic plus. I also heard that they were taking more time and refining the songs more than previous albums... another plus.
When I first got the album I saw that the opening track was nine minutes long... this was by far the longest song I had ever heard from them. Something fundamental had changed on this release. Everfields isn't just a song, it's more of a journey through different movements. The riffs are deep and powerful, in a way that the band had never been before. They work in some wonderful acoustic work towards the middle of the song as well, only to top everything off with a legit blast beat at the end. For a band that had never really gone beyond middle pace in the past this was huge.
Jukka's vocals have always been an interesting part of this band. He's got a deep and potent growl, something you would hear more in brutal death metal than anything in the melodeath field. Yet here he is, singing his heart out in one of the most melodic act that Finland has produced. It shouldn't work, but somehow the band figured it out and now I couldn't think of the album with anyone else on vocals.
The opener aside, this album is full of tracks that are killer. The pacing... perfect. The slower songs are spaced in such a way that they are broken up by either instrumentals or faster songs. They ebb and flow in such a way that it puts most other albums to shame. God I wish that they had kept this up in future albums.
New World Shadows is the finest album that these guys ever put out. The follow ups left a lot to be desired, and outside of a few moments here and there were back to the mediocrity of the first few albums. Regardless of the questionable quality of the other releases, they have this crown jewel in their discography.
Written July 29th 2024
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