Melodic Death Doom, perfected. The Morning Never Came is the debut album of the Finnish lords of gloom, beauty and despair. While I adore all of Swallow the Sun’s albums, I must confess that their debut is my favorite of all. The band simply crafted the absolute peak of the genre on their first try.

The Morning Never Came is, like most Doom, dark, very melancholic, atmospheric, and somber. But it’s also passionate, lush, melodic, equal parts beautiful and crushing. Undercurrents of depressive hopelessness and apocalypse are lit up by moonbeams of longing and twinkling starlight of love from long ago. Riffs and leads on this album are phenomenal; every single song has multiple that could go down as some of the most iconic of the genre. The bass is amazing, smooth and melodic, which is rare for Doom; the mix does it wonders so you can hear the attention to composition in the basswork. Similarly, the drumming is nice and active, intelligent, swapping between funereal and punchy to serve the songs. The keys are that extra layer that bring this from S tier to SS tier; so beautifully lush, simple but very, very memorable, backing the chords and leads in a way that solidifies each song as extremely memorable. They never compete with the guitar leads, instead adding another layer of backing chords that also avoid competing with rhythm guitar by sticking to higher registers. Just genius compositional work. Last but certainly not least, fantastic vocals that can range from death growls to black shrieks, even some cleans here and there, and morose yet captivating lyricism.

The Morning Never Came is not only one of my favorite albums ever, but one of the most consistent and flawless. There isn’t a single thing about this album I could point out that I don’t love. Even the production and mixing are perfect. The reverb is wonderfully atmospheric but doesn’t sacrifice detail. The layering is just enough to make the album sound lush, but perfectly restrained to ensure every instrument is audible and serving a specific purpose. The craftsmanship here, on all levels, is masterful.

The thing about albums like this is, beyond all the technical aspects, the compositional aspects, the musicianship, the production, it still has one more thing going for it: the emotional value. These songs are deeply affecting, on every front. The melodies are heart-wrenching, the vocals are powerful, the keys provide that plastic synthetic beauty that contrasts so well with the crushing devastation of the rhythm section. The mood here is so damn gloomy. The gloomiest album I’ve ever heard. Every song sounds like finding that which is most important to you broken and buried in the snow. Some songs instill the wrath that follows, and others the grief, but there’s always loss, there’s always melancholy, and there’s always cold, bitter snow, with no sign of the morning in sight.

Well, this just proves how much of a sucker I am for Anders. I’ve also got a soft spot for this style of 2000’s Alternative Metal that fused elements of extreme Metal with commercial sensibility, and always came with heavy doses of angst. I was growing up in that era, so of course it’s nostalgic for me. When I found out a couple members from one of my favorite bands put out an album in this style two decades ago, my interest was piqued.

To be blunt, this is a very standard 2000’s Alt Metal album on the surface. The band takes a ton of influence from the American scene at the time, adding in some Nu Metal influence. The rhythm section is pretty simple, most of the riffs are standard chord-based fair, and the songs follow verse-chorus format. But below that, there are elements of quality and care that make this a very complete package. Subtle but interesting synths are used to create atmosphere or even underlying melodies, and work especially well during the softer sections of the songs. Niclas reminds us he is not just any guitarist, but the riffmaster of the most legendary Melodeath band ever by composing gentle lead guitar melodies (often clean) that instead of taking focus, provide extra layers of depth to the verses and playing off of Ander’s vocals very nicely.

At the end of the day, though, Anders takes the center stage. At this point in his career, he had never used primarily clean vocals on an album, but what a welcome surprise it is. His cleans have always been a point of contention among fans (though I have always adored them) but one thing that cannot be denied is, god damn, the man can write a hook. Fantastic vocal melodies, harmonized with multiple layers (and styles) of vocals, even crafted with lyrics that flow perfectly… the choruses here are monumental. The verses are similarly captivating, less focused on melody and more on using these either angry or melancholic lyrics to build the mood of the song. The instrumentation on this album is simple, but it is to give the man full focus and play off of his strengths, and that is done to perfection here.

A lost gem that should appeal to any fans of that early 2000’s Alt Metal scene or fans of Anders’ vocals.

Listening to Banquet for the Darkness, a Melodeath album that was released in 2003, I continuously found myself thinking “how has no one done this before?” The riffs and leads on this album are just so damn catchy, but at the same time… simple. And by simple, I don’t mean they are easy to play or anything like that, just… again… how had no one thought of these before?

Despite releasing a decade into the genre’s development, Banquet for the Darkness is filled with guitarwork that sounds like it should have been foundational to the genre. And yet, it doesn’t sound like they are ripping off contemporaries. Everything here sounds fresh, unique, and at the same time, classic. Now of course, over two decades since its release, the album IS considered a classic in the genre, but as someone who has listened to a lot of Metal releases chronologically, this truly sounds like something that would have come out in 1994 rather than 2003. It even has the mix of true OSDM in the sound that many of the earliest Melodeath still retained. 

What can I say specifically about this album? Riffs. Riffs. Leads. Riffs. Solos. Riffs. The rhythm section is great as well, and the vocals are fully serviceable growls that occasionally lean towards Black Metal shrieks, but God damn, those guitars. Every song here has a lick that could go down among the classics.

The only thing I can say against this album is that it’s not quite as good as the debut in my humble opinion. With the debut being the absolute masterpiece that it is, that’s like saying a juicy medium-rare ribeye steak is not quite as good as a cut of A5 wagyu, but I really wish it did have one track that stood up to the majesty of “Cannibal Sodom.”

This was the album that shot Dir en Grey to the semi-mainstream, thanks in large part to the music video for “Obscure,” which is, to this day, one of the most bizarre, graphic, and disturbing music videos ever made. It makes Tool music videos look tame and normal.

But let’s talk about the music. For an album with 15 tracks and a certain amount of eclecticism that includes influences from Hardcore Punk, Avant-Garde Metal, Gothic, and J-Rock, Vulgar is a surprisingly consistent record. Kind of a blessing and a curse of this album is that pretty much every song features some dissonant, aggressive or avant-garde parts as well as more melodic and accessible sections. Depending on which you prefer, it essentially evens out with every song being at least good and listenable, while none of them truly reach masterpiece status. But by and large, most of these songs are great.

Despite the album title, only a couple songs here are explicitly vulgar. Many of the songs, even the renowned “Obscure,” use poetic, symbolic imagery that paints a surreal picture. I was impressed with the lyricism on display here, and can only imagine it reads even better untranslated. Kyo’s unhinged vocals and writing were my favorite part of the record.

Sure it could benefit from some trimming, but I think the wild eclecticism works in the album’s favor. The “weaker” songs are songs I can easily see being some people’s favorite tracks depending on their taste – the album has a little bit of everything here, although every song is steeped in Dir en Grey’s graphic, bizarre style like a tea bag of rotten pomegranate.

This was the album that made me a Devin Townsend fan. Everything before this was too inconsistent, too bizarre, too unserious… here, everything comes together so well. His previous albums had moments of genius, songs that displayed an incredible potential, but he was too unhinged, and the songwriting was way too all over the place to put down a full album of quality material. 

On this album, Devin actually sounds like he wants to say something rather than hide behind cryptic lines about eating vegetables. A lot of these songs tie into love and relationships, as well as mental health. Devin’s still got his sarcastic sense of humor, but most of these songs are driven by genuine passion and serve to deliver a mood and message rather than just serve as a playground for him to experiment with 100 layers of sounds.

Speaking of layers of sounds… beautiful. Production is fantastic, density is immense, yet at the same time everything feels weightless, clean. Even that album cover evokes the immaculate era when we thought the future would look like Frutiger Aero. The album is a treat to listen to again and again thanks to every moment being loaded with undercurrents of melodies, chords, and ambience that can only be picked up on after multiple passes. 

The choruses here are great, and Devin’s voice is just fantastic. The screams are phenomenal. There’s passion, power, control. The songs are really atmospheric and dense, so the choruses work as the perfect earworms to work in tandem with the otherwise overwhelming songs.

One criticism I have is that almost every song on this album features one riff or chord progression that just isn’t good. I dunno what it is with this guy, but he seems to self-sabotage everything he does by throwing a garbage passage into his would-be fantastic songs. Every single song on this album has the potential to be a masterpiece, but most of them had parts that I really just wasn’t crazy about, dragging the song down a bit.

It’s not a perfect album, but it is a clear embrace of Devin’s strengths as a singer, musician, writer and producer. Terria, while inconsistent, proved to me he could write some fantastic songs; Accelerated Evolution proved to me the man can write a great ALBUM, and henceforth I’m incredibly excited to listen to all of his following works.