INSOMNIUM - Argent Moon Digipack CD

Comes in a four-panel digipak.

It’s generally stipulated that the average Insomnium fan won’t find too many surprises here, particularly those that have followed closely since 2014’s Shadows Of The Dying Sun, but these songs function more as expansions upon an existing formula rather than outright retreads. It works best when approach as a continuous, cohesive whole rather than a series of disparate songs strung together, with each song becoming a more developed and slightly quicker progression upon the last. It’s more focused upon building a dense atmosphere to draw the listener into a daydream than any high-impact or technical showmanship, and apart from a fairly impressive guitar solo slot on “The Conjurer” provided by Liimatainen, shies away from getting flashy. It’s a slight step down from Heart Like A Grave and can almost be treated like a shorter addendum to the same basic sound that dominated said album. It walks a thin line between being meditative and a raging lament, but at the end of it all is a highly infectious set of songs that happen to have a wider than usual dynamic range.