Skeleton Lake

Hanging Garden are perhaps one of Finland's best kept secrets. Perhaps a bold statement, but even bolder is their remarkable consistency. Seven records in and they've yet to make a bad record - in fact, their seventh may just be their best. The dichotomy of beauty and melancholy rivals any band that strive for the same goal of gloomy, melodic doom metal. Whilst accolades are poured on their country-mates Swallow the Sun, I'd argue that Hanging Garden are not only more consistent, but have a deeper understanding of what makes someone feel. There is nothing more important than this element when writing music for the sole purpose of making a listener confront their own feelings and fears, and Hanging Garden mustered everything into this single recording. I haven't asked them whether this is true; I simply know it is by listening to the material.

Frankly, it's stunning how much they can conjure from a rather predictable and rudimentary framework for a doom metal band. The magic is in the songwriting, the variety being subtle but stirring. The fluidity at the backbone of this record honestly impresses the more one considers how confidently it weaves its elements together. You don't realize how much ground a single track covers until you analyze it - but you feel it when you listen. 'Tunturi' weaves together devastating riffs, spacious and atmospheric keys along with fury and aggression in a way that it conglomerates into one experience. 'Field of Reeds' feels both like an acknowledgement of the brevity of the world around us in a display that feels both overwhelming and hopeful at the same time. Each song is poetry in motion.

You might have noticed that a lot of time has been spent describing how a song makes you feel as opposed to what it sounds like, but that's testament to Hanging Garden's understanding on how to make someone feel without flashy gimmicks. They simply take what works and utilize it to mastery - every performance being just enough and nothing more. That isn't to take away from the individual performances; Riikka's expressive, delicate vocals perfectly marry with the fury and aggression of Jussi's deep growls. When focussing on the instrumentals it comes clear that each member has a deep understanding of not only what each member has composed, but of exactly what they want to portray and accentuate it so powerfully that the record becomes a greater sum of its parts - and each individual part is both commendable and impressive. The climax of 'Road of Bones' cannot be credited to one member - the coherence creating a soundscape that invites anybody to be drawn in and acknowledge their own inner sense of loneliness, ensuring you feel profoundly alone even in a room full of people.

The constant weave between soul-soothing melancholy and jaw-dropping dramatics are perfected on Skeleton Lake, being so fluid in execution that everything here feels raw, gutting and... real. Despite its laser-focus on a very specific, downtrodden mood it covers such a wide breadth of emotional ground. It doesn't matter how deeply the lyrics are steeped in metaphor; They're so perfectly executed and written that it's impossible to come out of this record and not feel something. Further, it's such an individualistic record with the choice of synths and melody so disctinct to Hanging Garden. When the title track reverberates out it feels - and I'm certain intentionally - like a curtain call on hope. It's poignant in such a way that following this record with anything after is genuinely difficult - silence and contemplation being the only fitting follow-up.

But perhaps the most impressive element is just how human this record feels. It feels like a testament to the human experience and how it relates to the world around us, its staggering breadth and diversity of emotions. Submerge yourself in Skeleton Lake and you may re-emerge changed; a true cumulation of everything Hanging Garden has only hinted to up to this point. There's a real magic to Hanging Garden's sound and this is the recording that showcases it, proving rather clearly that they carved their way to this point completely on their own as opposed to focussing on what other bands are doing. Perhaps other bands should pay attention to what Hanging Garden are doing so, so right.