For twenty years, Swallow the Sun have been the patient chroniclers of grief and loss. Born in the early 2000s, the Finnish band have built one of the most poignant bodies of work in melodic doom metal, marked by intimate tragedies that have durably inflected their music. Shining, their eighth album, surprises by its title as much as by its approach: after years of darkness, the outfit here dare the light.
The critics, positive (an 81 average across seven reviews), hail this inflection. The record keeps the band’s characteristic heaviness — crushing riffs, crawling tempos, growls from the abyss — but adds an almost atmospheric dimension, more aerial passages, a tenuous light that pierces the greyness. Praise goes to a widened palette, an emotion always close to the surface.
Musically, Swallow the Sun play on the contrast between doom crushing and melodic soars of great gentleness. The voice, by turns murmured, sung and roared, carries lyrics of avowed melancholy. The careful production showcases this duality between the weight of despair and the fragile hope that accompanies it.
One might regret that this quest for light attenuates in places the devastating power that was the band’s hallmark. Shining is a gentler, less crushing record that will divide the faithful attached to the darkness of the early days. This evolution, though seductive, comes at the cost of a slightly diminished intensity.
Verdict: 8/10. A moving, controlled record proving that doom can harbour a form of hope. A fine success, despite a half-tone daring.