A new adventure begins for As The Sun Falls!
Barely a year after their last EP, Jani Berney Mikkänen (guitar/vocals, Elysia, Tenebrae Aeternum, ex-Malphas), now joined by Joni Hakulinen (vocals), Anttoni Välimaa (drums, Post Pulse, Dying Reverie), and Juuso Laitinen (guitar, Blood Red Delusion, Domination Black), have released their new album, Songs from the Veil, on Theogonia Records.
We kick things off with Daughter Of The Air’s foghorn and waves from the opening track that plunges us into this Nordic atmosphere before the arrival of the backing vocals, followed by the first riffs that hit pretty hard, creating this majestic atmosphere before the martial acceleration and the first roars. You can easily feel that Finnish chill in the touches of aggression, but the track uses its length to weave piercing leads before letting A Shimmer On The Tides return to a rawer, more direct approach, then letting clean vocals take over for a while before handing the mic back to the screams. The track becomes almost more solemn in the slower passages, naturally flowing into As Night Devours, where the rhythm picks up again, featuring a prominent double bass drum and haunting harmonics before an almost cathartic break that infuses the song’s conclusion with its slowness. Back to crystal-clear sounds with A Million Stars Ashine, the next track that builds gradually, blending screamed passages with more soothing clean vocals before plunging back into violence on Below A Pale Tree, which follows hot on its heels. The choppy riffs lead to a suffocating passage where the lead guitar intensifies the oppressive atmosphere, but the clean sound briefly delivers us once more, only to return with a heavy approach on 9 Days Of Sorrow, where the sound becomes much more ethereal, almost borrowing its intricate touches from progressive metal. Distortion gradually takes hold of the ballad, which ends with haunting tones before giving way to Burning Snow, a far more energetic track that doesn’t hesitate to offer imposing passages where you can feel the grandeur mastered by the Finns, who let the blast beat thunder to good effect. The double kick returns to launch Silent Waters, a far more melancholic composition that doesn’t hide its ferocity thanks to its at times vindictive drumming, but which also knows how to calm down to let a female voice join the four musicians, creating a magnificent duet that closes out the track. The piano finally leads us to Blood To The Soil and its introduction, which starts off fairly calm but makes no secret of its desire to ignite, something that happens quite naturally, evoking the band’s roots and some of the groups that inspire them, but the track races straight into Sielulintu, the final composition that begins intriguingly only to eventually explode in turn, tinging its rhythm with rage right up to the break, but returning to finish the job and make us bang our heads.
Although the band was quick to release a follow-up to their last album, Songs from the Veil is a true success! Finnish roots are omnipresent in As The Sun Falls, and the band knows how to harness them to blend coldness and beauty.
90/100
