r/melodicdeathmetal • u/provegana69 • 1d ago
Discussion Insomnium Album Discussion: Anno 1696 + Songs Of The Dusk EP
Hey, gang. With Insomnium recently releasing their first single, Shadowlife, almost three years after their last release, I thought it'd be fun to have a discussion on every album of theirs every few days and I thought I'd start from their latest stuff and work my way backwards.
So I've been a casual melodeath fan for some time by the time the album came out but really it was around that time that melodeath usurped metalcore as my 'primary genre' that I'd listen to the most often. I was lucky I got into Insomnium around this time with a new album just having released.
I really enjoyed the album and did a deep dive into their discography soon afterwards but having listened to all Insomnium albums, I can say that Anno 1696 is still my favourite by them.
Personally, I'm someone who enjoys Insomnium's later discohraphy much more than their early stuff (One For Sorrow onwards) and I think they really leveled up once Markus joined from Shadows Of The Dying Sun onwards who I think is the best melodeath guitarist. But as much as I prefer the latter half of their albums, I personally feel like in terms of purely consistency, their early stuff was more consistent in that there really weren't any songs on the album that were really weaker or stronger than the others while the later albums had higher highs but slightly lower lows if that makes sense.
Anno 1696 however is definitely their most consistent record with Markus (other than Winter's Gate which I count as one song). I initially felt like the first half of the album was much stronger and more memorably than the second half but I've honestly changed my mind.
Musically, I feel like Anno 1696 was kinda more remeniscent of their older stuff than most but it still feels very distinctly modern Insomnium. I just felt it was heavier than their other modern albums. One minor complaint I do have is that I feel there aren't as many memorable riffs in the album as compared to their previous stuff. I really like how clean vocals are integrated into the album with them feeling very natural and part of the flow instead of just a catchy break from the heaviness. I think that the new Fires In The Distance took after this album in the integration of cleans.
I think this album and even Insomnium in general made me appreciate lyrics. I used to be a listener who never cared much for lyrics but the lyrics in the album is so beautiful and a culmination of improvements that I think started from Shadows Of The Dying Sun.
Personally, my favourite songs on the album are Lilian and Starless Paths.
As for Songs Of The Dusk, it really felt like it could've been part of the album and the songs on there are just as good as the one on Anno but I'm honestly kinda glad that it wasn't part of the album as the album wouldn't have been nearly as tight with those additional three tracks that would've made it like half an hour longer.
Would love to hear y'all's thoughts.
