Garden of Storms

These days, In Mourning have rather outgrown their name, having left their gothic metal past some way behind. The new pastures of progressive death metal are proving fertile, however, and Garden of Storms continues the trend of the quintet to produce top quality efforts in the Opeth mould. A new rhythm section has entered the picture since Afterglow, both of whom seem well-integrated as they battle their way through 7 complex songs that total up to 50 minutes of multi-hued creativity.

As usual in this field of metal, texture and variety equals riffing and hooks in importance. Keeping this in mind will lead to greater acceptance of softer parts, such as the mellow drift as ‘Magenta Ritual’ opens, as well as the gorgeous soaring clean vocal that ushers in complex yet familiar themes from Opeth’s Still Life heyday. All of the tracks have their own specific identity, heaviness predominating at most times, while proggy riffing and structures keep the listener guessing and allow the band to veer from choppy chord-based riffing to enormous Insomnium rushes of sweeping guitars to melancholic tranquillity within about a minute on ‘Huntress Moon’. Due to a sumptuous production, everything hangs together admirably, while the best surprise surely comes in ‘Hierophant’: the band finish jamming out a tangle of riffing, pause briefly, and then one of the most ecstatic solos of the album piles in.

The real question that comes whenever we get an album like Garden of Storms, however, is whether it’s relevant, considering that Opeth made this target and peppered it with shots until farming out in a prog rock direction, then groups like Be’lakor and Barren Earth moved in to capitalize on the vacant position. With a pinch of Scandinavian melancholy and more consistently up-tempo riffing than any of their compatriot Swedes’ albums, In Mourning offer a handy alternative to those atmospheric groups without losing the depth of the experience, yet the key factor remains the compelling quality of the music - the songs on Garden of Storms speak louder than any critic would dare to mention redundancy.


Originally written for Metalegion #6 - www.metalegion.com