INSOMNIUM have released 'Arch Of The Sky', the third single from 'Netherworlds', and it is the one that breaks formation. Where 'Shadowlife' and 'Gleam In The Black' played to the Finns' established strengths, this one wanders off into odd time and stays there.
"'Arch Of The Sky' introduces a proggier side of 'Netherworlds', featuring time signature changes and INSOMNIUM's trademark blend of mellow passages and heavier sections," guitarist Ville Friman says. At 6:15 it is the longest of the three singles so far, and it sits at the centre of the album as track six.
The lyric goes to Sámi folklore for its image, and it is a good one. Celestial hunters pursue a deer across the arch of the sky, and the chase never stops — because it cannot. If the hunters ever run the deer down, the sky collapses and the world ends with it. A pursuit that has to fail forever in order for anything to survive is close to a perfect INSOMNIUM subject: motion without resolution, beauty resting on a threat.
The video was directed and produced by Patric Ullaeus for rEvolver.se, who sets live performance footage against traditional animation to carry the story.
'Netherworlds' is the band's tenth studio album and arrives October 16 via Century Media Records. It follows 2023's 'Anno 1696'.
'Netherworlds' tracklist
- The Cold Song
- Shadowlife (4:42)
- Remembrance
- Gleam in the Black (4:32)
- The Hour Grows Late
- Arch of the Sky (6:15)
- Pathways of the Night
- Ethereal Sleep
- The Banished
- Journey's End
INSOMNIUM are Niilo Sevänen on vocals and bass, Ville Friman on guitar and clean vocals, Markus Vanhala and Jani Liimatainen on guitars, and Markus Hirvonen on drums.
The band take the record to North America this winter on the twenty-five-date co-headline run with AMORPHIS that the two announced at the start of September.
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Pre-order 'Netherworlds': https://insomnium.lnk.to/Netherworlds