![News Added Sep 21, 2015 With the drawing near of Autumn – attention, this album will be released on the 25th of September – Finnish Hanging Garden regales us with a perfect soundtrack to have an ultimate experience of this season. We are two years later after their productive year 2013, when we could welcome […]](https://hasitleaked.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/front1-320x320.jpg "Hanging Garden : Blackout Whiteout")
With the drawing near of Autumn – attention, this album will be released on the 25th of September – Finnish Hanging Garden regales us with a perfect soundtrack to have an ultimate experience of this season. We are two years later after their productive year 2013, when we could welcome the album ’At Every Door’ and the EP ‘I Was A Soldier’ of this Helsinki based six-piece. The line-up appeared to be solid (although… the drummer has been replaced after the recordings) and this results in a magnificent album that captivates from start to finish, the more since contrasts between smooth clean chants and extreme harsh parts are even more intense now. In addition the band has developed further from doom metal to dark atmospheric music in which genres such as post-rock, melodious doom/death metal, gothic and progressive influences are blend to a skilful amalgamation of enchanting, melancholic sounds. The production is crystal-clear, but it also shows huge dynamics by – particularly – creating a very chunky sound for the low-tuned guitars from time to time. Opening track ‘Borrowed Eyes’ already includes all characteristics in which the band excels. Sturdy drum patterns and sonorous sounds surround the smoothening clean chants that really reminds us of Jonas Renkse of Katatonia, but it also invokes affinity with Paradise Lost. But there we have a well-aimed outburst with a devastating scream, so that heavy guitars sometimes align with extreme grunts. Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow has something to do with that, since he was invited to do some guest vocals. Yet there is an opulence of introvert beauty and this album has more clean vocals than ever, a feature that was introduced on the previous album ‘At Every Door’ when new vocalist Toni Toivonen entered the band. Melancholy and compelling reveries prevail in ‘Whiteout’, while the single and video clip ‘Embers’ includes classical piano as well. Fluent guitar solos are the icing on the cake in this mainly calm song. As first lengthy track (eight minutes), ‘Eclipse’ begins with modern ambient sounds gliding into a cosmic atmosphere. This space-like theme is rendered in a suitable, dreamy manner, with a spoken fragment and soaring keyboards. Those modern sounds also pop up in the catchy ‘Aoede’ until we get another part of heavy riffs and harsh vocals during ‘Unearth’ and ‘Words That Bear No Meaning’. In every next track the contrast between melancholic passages and raucous outbursts is crafted in a superior way. On top of that we are relished with fluent guitar skills, so that occluding track ‘Blackout’ with its eight minutes length turns into the crown on the work with really marvellous passages with claire-obscure effects. The former album was more narrative, but this is top notch class that will also appeal to progressive rock fans. It is a must-have for fans of Swallow The Sun, Ghost Brigade and Katatonia, while the band includes musicians of Shamrain, Rapture, The Chant and Minutian. - See more at: http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/en/reviews/view/id/30474#sthash.2y48ExTk.dpuf
