Very good album, not a single bad song...abundance of catchy, early In Flames-inspired riffs and great acoustic interludes in between...the production is a bit on the down side, otherwise I would have rated it higher. Nonetheless, a worthy release...

Great album, a very pleasant surprise for me; one of the best albums I've heard lately.

I didn't like this before, now I knew that because I didn't really sit down quietly to appreciate this album...
listen to the guitars' riffs...shit...really amazing. An album that very easy to be overlooked. The best album of Insomnium, second track is the only weakest, the rest are very good especially Black Water is the best.

Very raw compared to the rest of their stuff but damn, almost every track stands out which can't be said for any other album they've done.

Its opening album, I liked then, I like now, The Elder is one of their best songs ever made IMO and here 2, 6 and 9 are also good one, great own style melodic death metal , maybe not so touring 300 day as dark tranquility , agresive as at the gates, but its Finlands best band in a genre millions times better as Omnium Gatherum and Mors Principium Est
Maybe ETOS stands out but they sound diferent, same as Kalmah

Written by Guest on 13.04.2020 at 20:28

I got into Insomnium via their later work and only recently gave this a spin. I enjoyed parts of it and the album definitely has an identity of sorts. And I love the acoustic parts and the keyboard breaks!

But the production is not that great and there's a lack of variation and creativity in the songwriting and general sound overall, not their best album by any means IMO.

The title track is excellent, but many other tracks here are not, imo.

This is an Impressive debut, not great, but a decent enough start for a band that has become a fully established household name in melodic death metal. Their sound has obviously matured since this debut, and the production certainly had been improved on since aswel, where here it was less refined than it is now.

Here you also have the first taste in their epic melodious riffing, and majestic soundscapes. The songwriting is also pretty solid stuff overall, but has also been much improved on in later releases.