Customer Reviews

Morning Never Came

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is dark man, but this darkness has life, like some kind of ugly/beautiful coma pillow. Fans of doom metal of the "gothic" variety (pretty keyboards weaving throughout the riffs that go from slow to slower to almost not slow) have heard this before, but somehow these guys make it their own. I feel compelled to play it over and over again, I keep hearing new things. Gruff vocals are pitched slightly from time to time, going from rumble to screech with a touch of clean, which keeps things vital. Sounds great at 3 in the morning...the cover of the album conveys this vibe nicely. The bonus Candlemass cover is a nice indication of where they're coming from as well-it's always good to see a band salute the root. Recommended for those who like to take baths in the dark, or maybe just those who would rather sleep than talk to most people.

I bought this due to a friend's recommendation and am happy to say that I'm very pleased.I normally dont find much appeal in doom metal, most of the bands within the genre have the tendancy to drag the music and by the time it really gets anywhere I've lost interest.

Swallow The Sun takes a bit of a different approach, adding a bit of melody and synth atmosphere to the mix.The end result is like a bit of a journey of despair and desolation.The clean vocals are quite good but are used sparringly, the harsh growls remain dominant.The songs have some great hooks as well, especially in the songs Silence Of The Womb and Hold Your Woe.

My only complaint (which is more of a major pet peeve of mine) is the lack of complete lyrics in the booklet.The pictures are nice and all, but you can get more out of music like thsi when you can relate the words to it.It only have snippets of the lyrics, and you dont quite know what part of the song the lyric belongs to.

In any case, highly recommended for Doom fans or anyone who generally likes atmospheric, crsuhing metal.This is kinda what Amorphis might have sounded like if they didnt venture down the poppy route.

Fans of My Dying Bride should now begin salivating...okay, now that's just gross! Swallow the Sun's most obvious influence is that of their soon-to-be legendary Doom Metal pioneers My Dying Bride (sans the violin). There are keyboards washing across the background of most of the songs here, the occasional piano section adding a nice variation in texture, but the guitars are the driving force overall. Many of the tracks would feel right at home on My Dying Bride's "The Light at the End of the World" or their following album "The Dreadful Hours." The vocals range from snarling Death Metal inflections to clean vocals; there are even times when the vocals are layered with all the variations intact, screeching Black Metal vocalizations mixed with Death Metal snarling that then switches to clean vocals. The exeptional track "Hold This Woe" is a superb example. This sort of suspended expectation is refreshing. The production value on this CD is excellent, the guitars high in the mix but never at any time burying the other music. The result is that the guitars serve equally as added atmosphere as they also provide direction. There are only snippets of lyrics provided in the packaging, though I visited their website and found complete lyrics for four of the songs here. With the types of vocals they employ it would have been nice to have all the lyrics provided within. Regardless, the music and texture of this album is one of absolute darkness and beauty, oftentimes existing simultaneously. The American release has the bonus cover song "Solitude" from Doom Metal forefathers Candlemass. Swallow the Sun has been heralded as a potential second-coming of Doom Metal. I certainly hope so. "The Morning Never Came" is certainly a promising statement for the future of the genre.

most doom metal is slow and takes WAY too long to get to the point. this band has more of a melodic doom sound and is heavy (drop C). It is not too depressing, but it is mournful and beautiful. ive tried a bunch of other doom bands, but these guys are still the best ive heard. that is, in their own genre of doom.

Good band, good album. For fans of Opeth, Dark Tranquillity, Katatonia, etc. Very melodic, progressive sound.

Not bad, not bad at all. Tempos and drive are mostly doom-like, but plenty of catchy bits and changes to make things more interesting. (Much better song-writing than most doom albums I've heard!) Lots of great guitar crunch, death vocals and awesome use of synth and piano in a metal context. In fact, great playing all-round, nothing to criticise there. It reminds me of Rapture's "Songs for the withering", except slower tempos - that's another one for the "must have" list. Hey, there's even a few teasing moments of clean vocals for Opeth-style fans, in fact I would have given an extra 1/2 star for even more of that! :) Buy with confidence!

Being a fan of metal, but not specifically doom or death metal, it took a while to really get into this debut album by Swallow the Sun. But already during the first listen I could tell that this was a high-quality album that I needed to spend more time with. That assumption was proven true - this album has become a modern classic in my book!

The young band from Finland clearly planned this one well. There are some brilliant guitar riffs and melody ideas, drummer Pasi Pasanen (who, sadly, has since left the band) is amazing, and vocalist Mikko Kotamäki inspires awe. His clean vocal style is not all that special, but his control over the variations of his scream vocal technique is impressive already on this first full-length album. The track "Hold This Woe" is a powerful demonstration of Pasanen's and Kotamäki's skills, with the intro's and ending's super-cool ride cymbal sounds and all the moments of gloom and spurts of energy in between. Everything is held together by the strong and sharp guitar work of Juha Raivio and the other guitarists, and accented by the subtle but magnificent work of keyboardist Aleksi Munter.

Many of these songs could be mainstream metal classics if performed with a different vocal vibe and a faster tempo. But that is not what Swallow the Sun set out to do. I just wish their subsequent albums were as good as this one. So far, I feel that has not been the case.

Original, mystical, creepy, dark, dreamy, heavy melodics and growlings. Everytime i listen to the cd it becomes better and better.
In comparison with lots of other metal bands I feel lots of work and emotions in every song(highly unusual). They worked hard to go deep in structures and atmosphere. Look forward to buy an other cd of this artists.

A nice combination of melody over crushing doom riffs makes for an interesting album. Good songwriting, though I wish the lyrics were easier to discern.

Yeah I'm American too so spare me the hate mail. This is some dark-ass doom, man. Finland rules again.