Insomnium!

Here's a change of pace for you all! Especially appropriate because there is a blizzard bearing down on the northeast as we speak. Joy! I am overjoyed at the prospect of BIG SNOW.

Now this is music that gets me excited and brings many endorphin rushes. Many may laugh, apparently Insomnium have been around for quite some time (demos going back to 1999), and I have been living under a rock. But, alas, I have found Insomnium, and shall be listening them to death. This is just beautiful melodic metal. It is just the upper I needed after stumbling down the black metal tunnel for a while.Through YouTube, I have sampled thus far a smattering of their work from most albums, and must say it is all amazing, endorphin-rush metal, IMHO the best kind. When the music flows perfectly from brutal vocals and hard riffs to keyboards/instrumentals, whispers, clean vocals, and back again there is only pure joy to the senses. To check out the band's earlier works, one only has to go to the band's (aforementioned) page and click on the link to their demos. There one can listen to their 1999 demo, and see how incredibly talented this band has been over the years. Seeing that they went on tour in Europe with Paradise Lost makes me feel pangs of envy, I would have LOVED to see them perform. Alas, my life/work schedule hasn't allowed me time for many concerts at all, and I feel terribly out of the loop sometimes as far as live performances go. (Let's not even discuss the Opeth/Katatonia show in Brooklyn that I just found out about will be in April and is already sold out. Wail!) Nothing worse than getting to the party too late, eh?

Well, here is more Insomnium.

I encourage you to embark on this aural journey for yourself, visit some Insomnium on YouTube. Hopefully it will result in you throwing some money at a much-deserving band, if you can afford to do so. I do want to clarify at this point my stance on such matters. I buy music. It is a hobby of mine, along with making my own jewelry, and occasionally drawing. If the band is worthy, and I love the music enough, I buy the album, possibly other bandmerch, and attend concerts. I love the fact we can listen to anything we want nowadays on YouTube, Pandora, and wherever else on the internet. Finding new music is always only a click away.  It is so much easier now than it was, say 10-15 years ago, to listen to music you want to hear, and not just what is commercialized by mainstream sources. I have seen a dramatic shift throughout the years because of this, regarding record labels, creativity, and bands not having to "sell out" for major corporate interests influencing their music in order to survive and continue to play music. Either that, or record labels are finally realizing dyed-in-the-wool metal fans can smell a sellout a mile away before the album is even released. Maybe it is both.