General Article name: Songs from the North I, II & III
Genre: Heavy Metal Product type: LP (Vinyl) Label: Century Media Records Number of tracks: 21 Tracklist LP - 1 1. Swallow the Sun - With You Came the Whole of the World's Tears 2. Swallow the Sun - 10 Silver Bullets 3. Swallow the Sun - Rooms and Shadows 4. Swallow the Sun - Heartstrings Shattering 5. Swallow the Sun - Silhouettes 6. Swallow the Sun - Memory of Light 7. Swallow the Sun - Lost & Catatonic 8. Swallow the Sun - From Happiness to Dust   Tracklist CD - 2 9. Swallow the Sun - Womb of Winter 10. Swallow the Sun - Heart of a Cold White Land 11. Swallow the Sun - Away 12. Swallow the Sun - Pray for the Winds to Come 13. Swallow the Sun - Songs from the North 14. Swallow the Sun - 66,50'N,28,40'E 15. Swallow the Sun - Autumn Fire 16. Swallow the Sun - Before the Summer Dies   Tracklist CD - 3 17. Swallow the Sun - Gathering of Black Moths 18. Swallow the Sun - 7 Hours Late 19. Swallow the Sun - Empires of Loneliness 20. Swallow the Sun - Abandoned by the Light 21. Swallow the Sun - Clouds Prepare for the Battle   Description Description

Finland's Swallow the Sun are well known among extreme music fans for their uncompromising musical vision and ambition. Songs from the North I, II & III, a two-and-a-half-hour triple album of all new material (21 songs), offers proof. Each disc is a separate album, though all were conceived, written, and recorded as a single project with the band exploring different aspects of its sound. What unites them musically is a pervasive melodic sensibility, no matter the setting. Lyrically, themes of grief, loss, and despair run throughout, but the natural world -- wild, mythical, spiritual -- bears unflinching witness and is the thematic glue. Disc one extends the terrain explored on 2012's Emerald Forest and the Blackbird. Eight songs offer richly textured arrangements balanced between acoustic and electric instruments amid alternating clean and dirty vocals. Usually commencing subtly and gently, these tracks eventually build toward shattering climaxes. "Heartstrings Shattering" (featuring a return appearance by Aleah Stainbridge) is prime STS. Fingerpicked, echo-laden guitars give way to a gothic pop melody, fueled by massive drums and razor-sharp riffing behind the male and female singing. "10 Silver Bullets" is darker, more unhinged, and sinister, while the neo-classical dramatic frame on "From Happiness to Dust" is no less punishing. On disc two, STS play almost completely acoustic with clean singing. This album's songs bridge the set with a haunted, near ethereal atmosphere, but the lack of volatility makes the sadness more pronounced. "Pray for the Winds to Come" uses 12-string acoustic guitars, cellos, electric bass, and subtle keyboard shades behind a desolate vocal from Mikko Kotamaki. "The Heart of a Cold White Land," played in waltz time, offers striking fingerpicked acoustic guitars, highlighted by bells, chimes, and strings. "Before the Summer Dies" weaves electric and acoustic guitars, a pulsing bassline, swinging drums, and elegantly stacked vocal harmonies. The final disc offers the biggest, meanest, and darkest surprise. This is the first time that STS have indulged in bruising funereal doom with such extended, violent concentration. The shortest of these five songs is nine minutes. At 13 minutes, "The Gathering of the Black Moths" is as low, slow, menacing, and brutal as any Sunn 0))) track, but it's far more musical. Deep, resonant, ceremonial brass instruments, horrific guttural and screamed vocals, a shattering, detuned bassline, black tremolo picking, and martial processional drumming enter the track. It then shifts to include melodic breakdowns and death metal interludes before returning. The brutally beautiful "Empires of Loneliness" features guest narration from Daylight Dies' Nathan Ellis. Drummer Juuso Raatikainen's tribal drumming, chanted Gregorian-esque choruses, psychedelic guitar effects, waves of keyboard washes, and rumbling bass erect a wall of sonic dread that cracks open during a blackened death metal finale. Releasing Songs from the North I, II & III demonstrates a radical belief in the physical concept of the album -- an act of defiance against trends. While each disc stands on its own, it's the sum total that makes this a career-defining work. ~ Thom Jurek

Thom Jurek

Contributors Artist: Swallow the Sun Record Label: Sony Music