Music Review - Insomnium - Above the Weeping World

Above the Weeping World is Insomnium's 3rd album, and while not as strong as their newest album Across the Dark, this record is a strong combination of melodic death metal and soft acoustic interludes, some of which border on ambient. While not my personal favorite of theirs, ATTW is definitely a solid album.

The melodic death metal of the album hasn't changed a whole lot since the first release by the band, but this isn't a bad thing at all. There's some real killer guitar work here, especially on the first three songs. While there aren't any blazing solos or wild technical riffing going on, there is still genuine emotion in the melodies played here, which is Insomniums greatest strength. As on every other of their albums, sorrow, nostalgia, anger and even a few glimmers of happiness can be found here, all of which are conveyed in real meaningful ways and avoid sound cheesy or over the top. The vocals contribute a lot to this, with deep powerful roars and growls that really add a lot of feeling to the music. Another big factor is the brilliant use of acoustic guitars, which more than anything here add feeling to the music. Whether used in intros or interludes, the soft acoustic moments are gentle and quite lovely, never out of place and something I really applaud the band for using so well. The pace is slow-to-mid with occasional fast breaks, however these are few and far between and the majority of the album is content to amble along at a mostly slow speed.

The lyrics are another strong point; Insomnium write some of my favorite lyrics of any band. Resembling poetry more than most bands lyrics (and in the 3rd song using an actual poem from Francis William Bourdillion) they are dreary and sorrowful, but like the actual music avoid being cheesy, which is something a lot of artists fail to do.

The highlights of this album for me are the first three songs, the third of which, Drawn to Black, is my favorite off the album and my favorite Insomnium song. The main riff is brilliant, the pace is perfect and the entire song simply works beautifully. There are some slower and duller moments though, particularly towards the end of the album. These are offset by some terrific acoustics though, and don't really take too much away from the album.

Overall, this is a strong effort by a fantastic band. Outstanding use of acoustics combined with mostly engaging melodic death metal make for a good combination, and Insomnium pull it off very well here.