Kinda strange how music works for everyone. That album is actually my least favorite Swallow The Sun album. For me its kinda boring but I understand why others love it so much. Also the only album I do not listen to any song really. But that doesnt mean I think its a bad album, just to me boring.
Swallow the Sun slot into the death-doom genre. Loved watching all the moments your expectations were subverted :) Great dive into the use of silence and minimalism in this track; that's something that StS excels at. To highlight the minimalism in the drumming: the drummer here is Kai Hahto who's the same one doing the non-stop blistering drumming in Wintersun - Sons of Winter & Stars (another track you checked out ages ago, so prob don't remember). It's cool seeing the same drummer so expressive in such different styles.
it's also a good one to hook them in cause you can lead with the nightwish connection: their current drummer and features guest vocals from their previous singer
Wow! The range on the drummer is insane. The amount of restraint required to understand the needs of a song like this and not over play at all is a skill all by itself.
Their drummer these days Juuso Raatikainen is IMO just as good. He has a lot of drum cam/classes on here, where he shows everything from jazz to grindcore.
From this album I would have picked "Lights on the Lake (Horror, pt. III)" but this is also a very good track. Mikko Kotamäki, the singer, does all the vocals, cleans, growls and blackish screams - I agree that his black screams are not great but this was IMO the first album where they really started to experiment with adding more cleans and blacks to the mix. He has actually improved a lot on newer albums. As for the lyrics, this is not a concept album so I don't think you're missing any context from the earlier songs. Lastly, I know you have a patreon, but let me suggest a couple of songs that you might like (especially since you're still kind of wary of the screams): Trees of Eternity - "Hour of the Nightingale" - this is by the guitarist Juha Raivio of Swallow the Sun along with Aleah Starbridge (may she rest in peace) as singer - they met during the recordings of New Moon and were in a relationship. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2016 and every subsequent Swallow the Sun album has basically been about Raivio's coming to terms with losing her (he's the primary songwriter for them). Edit: Also, since you liked the starting part and the clean vocals of this song, you should definitely check out "The Void" from the latest album, Moonflowers. Very, very atmospheric and has no growls at all. As a kind of joker pick since it was just Halloween and everything, I'd also like to throw in a suggestion for Silencer - "Death, Pierce Me" just for the pure shock factor. You'll probably enjoy the music, but the vocals, not so much... but they are very, very unique. Great pick, thanks to whoever asked for this :)
One of my favorite things about this video is that without even realizing what you did, at various points you used the words gloom, beauty and despair to describe the feeling you got from the music and lyrics. These have long been the guiding principles of Swallow the Sun's music, I believe they even named a song after it. Amazing band, one of my favorites since like 2010.
@Critical reactions I'm unsure if it's Finnish folklore or a fact but the story of the song is about a pair of swans (which are monogamous), one of the pair is either unable to leave to south for the winter so the other one stays and waits until death by freezing into the lake.
I've heard a few tracks by these guys and have their discog downloaded but haven't listened to it yet. I enjoyed this too. Super atmospheric with some really cool riffs and vocals. Just super solid and interesting death doom.
Yeah! My pick for "Gotta go slow" week that didn't make it then. Not that it's the slowest track imaginable, but it's just such a good one! 😍 Has quite a Katatonia feel in the moods as well (though heavier/more agressive in bits).
Cool analysis again of my favourite band. You last did them on Doom Week along with Pallbearer. Btw if you want some more beautiful Doom you should listen to Clouds…maybe “Deepen this Wound”.
i've been getting into death-doom ever since the band Slumber randomly played on spotify. i dig swallow the sun quite a bit, i don't like the fry screams in this song though
If you like Slumber you should also make sure to check out the bands Atoma and Enshine, which formed after Slumber split up. Enshine is more death-doom, Atoma is a little more eclectic but they're both super atmospheric and melodic. Atoma in particular has some of the best production I've ever heard, full stop.
@@DSoverPSP i've heard enshrine it does not hit me like slumber does. it has this 'space rock' atmosphere, which is fine, i just cant connect at an emotional level. i will check out Atoma. thanks.
Swallow the sun is probably the only band i know who consistently put out albums that i think are great, not a single album i think is just kinda good or anything below that.
Sorry for commenting again, someone replied to me. It transitioned from clean to harsh vocals pretty smoothly. The intro is sadness and then frustrations and anger kicks in. You are overthinking it too much. Also The black Metal vocals amped it. The song is pretty cohesive and knows its direction. Just admit that you don't like Metal man, you are cynical toward harsh vocals.
It would be trash if it stayed ballady like the intro and only clean vocals the whole way through. Do you even a metalhead? or you only like ballads? Perhaps those prog ballad bands which every single track of them is ballad has been intoxicated your brain. They just pretend that they are Metal. I blame Pink Floyd for that. Yeah what i'm saying is kinda elitism but you know that i'm right, atleast in some extend.
I certainly don't know that you're right. Music is awesome, all kinds of it. Beautiful layering of melancholic chords and moving ideas is awesome. It's easy to build off of this idea while still retaining the core sound and leading into more emotional, larger ideas without going into metal. I mean, it's been done for hundreds of years. You ask if I "even metal" but do you even music? Or do you only like metal? It's such a narrow-minded approach to a vast artform and you drastically limit yourself, your ideas, your growth, and your worldview by discounting entire styles of music.
@@CriticalReactions I listen to Metal most of the time and i admit that i'm biased towards it. However my point stays the same. I think my opinion is true to some extend just as yours which is addressing me as toxic towards ballads, pop and other genres.
@@cpfantastic5576 Your opinion is dumb and you should be thankful he even responded to it. I don't even get what your point is - that it's impossible to have a good song with only cleans? You do realize that new Swallow the Sun albums are mostly clean vocals, right? You do realize that genres like prog rock, krautrock, post-rock, and space rock have been making long, adventurous, artistic music using only clean vocals, right?
@@LokiTricksterG Let's put it this way, he is mostly listen to clean and ballady prog rock in his free time and he's biased towards them but he can't admit it. I blame Pink Floyd where with the amount of fame that they've got, people thought it's really better and more emotional to make all of the songs of a album ballady and clean. Now This Swallow the Sun song wouldn't be the same if it was like that, it would be boring. And yes, old Swallow the Sun albums are way better than newer ones and everyone's knows it for a reason.
I love Swallow the Sun. Their album When A Shadow is Forced Into the Light is such a beautiful emotional journey.
a good album, for sure. and knowing that it was written right after the guitarist's partner passed away makes the emotions on the album cut deeper
It's the only album I have listened too, and I love it. I need to branch out and listen to more
One of the most heartbreaking albums out there. Always worth a listen.
That albums is amazing
Kinda strange how music works for everyone. That album is actually my least favorite Swallow The Sun album. For me its kinda boring but I understand why others love it so much. Also the only album I do not listen to any song really. But that doesnt mean I think its a bad album, just to me boring.
Swallow the Sun slot into the death-doom genre. Loved watching all the moments your expectations were subverted :) Great dive into the use of silence and minimalism in this track; that's something that StS excels at. To highlight the minimalism in the drumming: the drummer here is Kai Hahto who's the same one doing the non-stop blistering drumming in Wintersun - Sons of Winter & Stars (another track you checked out ages ago, so prob don't remember). It's cool seeing the same drummer so expressive in such different styles.
I love watching all the reactions to “Cathedral Walls”. They’re all “this is nice” and then BAM the power and heavy growls come in.
@@jscottg77 ooo yeah that's a great one for first time reactions to the band
it's also a good one to hook them in cause you can lead with the nightwish connection: their current drummer and features guest vocals from their previous singer
Wow! The range on the drummer is insane. The amount of restraint required to understand the needs of a song like this and not over play at all is a skill all by itself.
Their drummer these days Juuso Raatikainen is IMO just as good. He has a lot of drum cam/classes on here, where he shows everything from jazz to grindcore.
From this album I would have picked "Lights on the Lake (Horror, pt. III)" but this is also a very good track. Mikko Kotamäki, the singer, does all the vocals, cleans, growls and blackish screams - I agree that his black screams are not great but this was IMO the first album where they really started to experiment with adding more cleans and blacks to the mix. He has actually improved a lot on newer albums. As for the lyrics, this is not a concept album so I don't think you're missing any context from the earlier songs.
Lastly, I know you have a patreon, but let me suggest a couple of songs that you might like (especially since you're still kind of wary of the screams):
Trees of Eternity - "Hour of the Nightingale" - this is by the guitarist Juha Raivio of Swallow the Sun along with Aleah Starbridge (may she rest in peace) as singer - they met during the recordings of New Moon and were in a relationship. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2016 and every subsequent Swallow the Sun album has basically been about Raivio's coming to terms with losing her (he's the primary songwriter for them).
Edit: Also, since you liked the starting part and the clean vocals of this song, you should definitely check out "The Void" from the latest album, Moonflowers. Very, very atmospheric and has no growls at all.
As a kind of joker pick since it was just Halloween and everything, I'd also like to throw in a suggestion for Silencer - "Death, Pierce Me" just for the pure shock factor. You'll probably enjoy the music, but the vocals, not so much... but they are very, very unique.
Great pick, thanks to whoever asked for this :)
One of my favorite things about this video is that without even realizing what you did, at various points you used the words gloom, beauty and despair to describe the feeling you got from the music and lyrics. These have long been the guiding principles of Swallow the Sun's music, I believe they even named a song after it. Amazing band, one of my favorites since like 2010.
@Critical reactions I'm unsure if it's Finnish folklore or a fact but the story of the song is about a pair of swans (which are monogamous), one of the pair is either unable to leave to south for the winter so the other one stays and waits until death by freezing into the lake.
Ah, alright. Thanks so much for that context.
I would loooooove for you to do a reaction to their song Plague of Butterflies, it's a 34 minute masterpiece that tells a beautiful bittersweet story
melo doom is the perfect description of Swallow's sound, they basically pioneered the genre
I've heard a few tracks by these guys and have their discog downloaded but haven't listened to it yet. I enjoyed this too. Super atmospheric with some really cool riffs and vocals. Just super solid and interesting death doom.
They're also labeled with "prog" actually 😊
@@progperljungman8218 They are Death Doom band but yeah, they are proggy as well.
@@cpfantastic5576 yup
Love this band is awesome, last album really hits me har, and the song "Woven Into Sorrow" such beautiful roller coaster of emotions
Yeah! My pick for "Gotta go slow" week that didn't make it then. Not that it's the slowest track imaginable, but it's just such a good one! 😍 Has quite a Katatonia feel in the moods as well (though heavier/more agressive in bits).
One of my favorite bands.
Cool analysis again of my favourite band. You last did them on Doom Week along with Pallbearer. Btw if you want some more beautiful Doom you should listen to Clouds…maybe “Deepen this Wound”.
Great band and great song, would've liked to see a reaction to the opening track to this album though
Can't believe you haven't reacted to Scar Symmetry yet. "Kaleidoscopic God" would be a good one to react to.
i've been getting into death-doom ever since the band Slumber randomly played on spotify. i dig swallow the sun quite a bit, i don't like the fry screams in this song though
If you like Slumber you should also make sure to check out the bands Atoma and Enshine, which formed after Slumber split up. Enshine is more death-doom, Atoma is a little more eclectic but they're both super atmospheric and melodic. Atoma in particular has some of the best production I've ever heard, full stop.
@@DSoverPSP i've heard enshrine it does not hit me like slumber does. it has this 'space rock' atmosphere, which is fine, i just cant connect at an emotional level. i will check out Atoma. thanks.
metal is its own world. it can be anything
Its the Rule 34 of music world. If it exists, it probably also has a metal subgenre. 😁
Swallow the sun is probably the only band i know who consistently put out albums that i think are great, not a single album i think is just kinda good or anything below that.
you need to react to failure. their songs: another space song and solaris are my favorite.
React to finish band dolorian
React to comatose vigil from Russia
Sorry for commenting again, someone replied to me. It transitioned from clean to harsh vocals pretty smoothly. The intro is sadness and then frustrations and anger kicks in. You are overthinking it too much. Also The black Metal vocals amped it. The song is pretty cohesive and knows its direction. Just admit that you don't like Metal man, you are cynical toward harsh vocals.
It would be trash if it stayed ballady like the intro and only clean vocals the whole way through. Do you even a metalhead? or you only like ballads? Perhaps those prog ballad bands which every single track of them is ballad has been intoxicated your brain. They just pretend that they are Metal. I blame Pink Floyd for that. Yeah what i'm saying is kinda elitism but you know that i'm right, atleast in some extend.
I certainly don't know that you're right. Music is awesome, all kinds of it. Beautiful layering of melancholic chords and moving ideas is awesome. It's easy to build off of this idea while still retaining the core sound and leading into more emotional, larger ideas without going into metal. I mean, it's been done for hundreds of years. You ask if I "even metal" but do you even music? Or do you only like metal? It's such a narrow-minded approach to a vast artform and you drastically limit yourself, your ideas, your growth, and your worldview by discounting entire styles of music.
@@CriticalReactions I listen to Metal most of the time and i admit that i'm biased towards it. However my point stays the same. I think my opinion is true to some extend just as yours which is addressing me as toxic towards ballads, pop and other genres.
@@cpfantastic5576 Your opinion is dumb and you should be thankful he even responded to it. I don't even get what your point is - that it's impossible to have a good song with only cleans? You do realize that new Swallow the Sun albums are mostly clean vocals, right? You do realize that genres like prog rock, krautrock, post-rock, and space rock have been making long, adventurous, artistic music using only clean vocals, right?
@@LokiTricksterG Let's put it this way, he is mostly listen to clean and ballady prog rock in his free time and he's biased towards them but he can't admit it. I blame Pink Floyd where with the amount of fame that they've got, people thought it's really better and more emotional to make all of the songs of a album ballady and clean.
Now This Swallow the Sun song wouldn't be the same if it was like that, it would be boring. And yes, old Swallow the Sun albums are way better than newer ones and everyone's knows it for a reason.
@@LokiTricksterG Also i posted a new comment that answers you more. Just check out latest comments.