Album Reviews: February

Despite my fervent promises, I find it too tedious to do proper long reviews. So, save for the albums I really look forward to/like way too much, I'll just do a monthly recap (sometime during the month after). As it is, my taste in music is still rather varied, but right now I'm in a bit of a melodeath/folk pit.

Spring Playlist II

We've entered the astronomical spring with a solar eclipse, isn't that nice? Here wasn't much of a spectacle, especially since we didn't bother to get anything to view as little as we could have. I kind of forgot about it, even, but it was still noticeable - how the tone of the light changed just ever so slightly, how it was just a little too dark without any clouds to speak of. It was eerie in a very bright way, which made it all the more disconcerting.

I say this calls for a metal sort of spring. (I mean, how appropriate is the Shadows of the Dying Sun cover?) Anyway, to commemorate, here's a playlist (I've done quite some time ago, since this is a thing I do every changing of the seasons), vaguely spring-like for those who appreciate everything from pop-rock to metal. Well, mostly metal still.

Omnium Gatherum / Insomnium / Ensiferum

I was at the Ensiferum concert yesterday. But, it's no secret that I expressly went for the sole reason of seeing Omnium Gatherum and Insomnium live. Here's the setlist:

It was awesome. It was far from perfect, yeah; but I still loved it. I knew Insomnium were sketchy as best live, and they really could do with either one more guitar or a synth, because their melodicness is one of the best things about them. To be fair, I don't know how much better they are with their usual guitarist/clean vocalist Ville, so... Because that's one thing that's definitely suffered - the clean vocals were inaudible, and poor Kari Olli messed up even the guitar a few times. Considering he's a fill-in, it wasn't so bad.

On the other hand, Omnium Gatherum were phenomenal even live. Yeah, they're a 6-member band, but like this, the sound just blew me away. They were the first performers, so they really set the mood. Also, they played all my favourite songs (Soul Journeys, New World Shadows...), so I was happy.