Band:	As The Sun Falls
Album:	Kaamos
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	May 2024

01. Indrøø
02. Among The Stars
03. Black Lakes
04. In Forlorn Times
05. The Wanderer
06. Aurora
07. Through Sorrow And Grief [feat. Gogo Melone]
08. Into The Shadows [feat. Kari Olli]
09. Silver Shining
10. The Great Cold
11. Kaamos

In their career thus far, As The Sun Falls have written melodeath that firmly conforms to the established trends in the Finnish scene. With Kaamos, that very much remains the case, but it’s a damn enjoyable rendition of a familiar sound.

In some ways, it can be a relief as a reviewer to not have to reach for nebulous comparisons to elusive bands when trying to describe an album’s sound. As The Sun Falls sounds unmistakably similar to Insomnium and similar acts. There’s the same expansive scope and gloomy, melancholic melody to their sound, but with that does come the downside of trying to pinpoint the reasons to recommend Kaamos over the numerous other melancholic melodeath bands currently around. Well, considering the mixed responses to the last few Insomnium releases, there is seemingly a gap in the market for a band that scratches an itch that those albums can’t, and Kaamos might be strong enough to manage that.

Having said that, there is enough overlap with albums such as Anno 1696 and Heart Like A Grave that fans of more recent Insomnium material should enjoy Kaamos too, even if that overlap is mainly in specific areas. As The Sun Falls generally shy away from particularly catchy/anthemic choruses, and also away from the more simplistic, ‘plodding’ writing that has featured occasionally on recent Insomnium albums. Instead, while there are some rushes of high-speed energy, the bulk of the album sticks in a more mid-tempo range, which the sorrowful guitar leads craft into epic, wintry soundscapes. Additionally, enchanting acoustic/clean guitars are used to good effect on bookending tracks “Indrøø” and “Kaamos”, as well as “Into The Shadows” (featuring guest clean singing from Kari Olli).

As The Sun Falls recently released a 3-song EP, Where The Silence Reigns; of those three songs, it is the opening track “The Wanderer” that was selected for inclusion on Kaamos, and it is a well-earned inclusion, as this song, the longest on the hour-long record, is a triumphant onslaught of some of the fastest and most intense riffing on the record. The other songs that consistently up the pace throughout are “Aurora” and “The Great Cold”, neither of which strives forward relentlessly, but both have their fair share of lively passages powered along by the bass drum-heavy percussion that persists across much of Kaamos.

The other songs still have their surges in speed, with the first ‘full’ track on the record, “Among The Stars”, opening in a flurry of blasts, but songs such as this and “In Forlorn Times” spend more time emphasizing instrumental density over outright speed, and allowing the melodic riffs and guitar leads to coalesce in luscious fashion. Some tracks are more overtly riffy, with “Black Lakes” a strong example of a song with sharp hooks on the fundamental guitar rhythms. Amongst all these other songs shines “Through Sorrow And Grief”, the other cut here to feature a guest vocalist; in this instance, it is Aeonian Sorrow’s Gogo Melone, and the contrast between the track’s comparatively storming opening minutes and the subdued, sullen soundscapes that her gentle, gothic tones grace with their presence serves as an exhibit of the (somewhat narrow) musical range that As The Sun Falls are able to explore on this record.

As with their previous releases, Kaamos is not an album primed to appeal to the more musically adventurous of metal listeners; this is a record for melodeath fans, and melodeath fans only. Still, it is likely to rank among the stronger efforts in the genre in 2024, so if you are a melodeath fan, this is definitely an album to add to your listening queue.