Old "Melancholy's Masquerade"review @ Avant-garde Metal

http://www.avantgarde-metal.com/content/beyond2.php?id=44 

beyond the border
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SOMNAM Melancholy's Masquerade Release:  2007 Label:  Paradigms Recordings Avantgenre:  Experimental / Ambient / Electronica Duration:  43:42 Origin:  Finland Official site:  http://www.myspace.com/sOmnam Review online since:  07.11.2008 / 08:54:42

The title chosen for the debut album of the Finnish one ghost project SOMNAM is perfect: "Melancholy’s Masquerade” offers us nine keyboard based voyages through dreary, yet colourful autumnal spheres, sometimes oppressive, sometimes uplifting, but always with sublime melancholic undertones that attach the listener with creative charm. Unlike many other ambient / electronica artists, SOMNAM’s sound is chameleonic, changes every now and then, and most of the time there’s more than a single melody which twists your brain. This is certainly not depressive in a sense of hopeless and not varying, but really melancholic. But did I write "twist your brain”? That’s after all not really the case since Antti Vaheri finds the balance between easy listening and the dramatic, maybe as a result of his fascination for specific soundtrack composers? SOMNAM certainly offers you atmospheric music for your own inner movies, not necessarily the nightmarish ones, but not for the comedies as well. These sound spheres take off where the mighty Norwegian Esperanza left after its incredible debut and I can recommend it to everybody into the ambient music of Tor Lundvall, Ulver or the named, far too early gone sound wizard from the Jester Records label. Music for your sleepwalks in the twilight hours, thus the monicker SOMNAM seems to be chosen with ulterior motives as well...

Thor Joakimsson



TRACKLIST:

01 - Masquerade
02 - Melancholy Disguised
03 - Devouring Spiral Oasis
04 - Drunk By The Sand
05 - Ghost Of The Light
06 - Deserted Mindscape
07 - Seconds Before The Shadows Come
08 - Faint Noise Dying
09 - Sunburnt & Withered

Somnam @ SoundCloud

Reagganged version of the song from Somnam's second demo album "Weeping Streets and Crying Cities" that was released 2006.

Somnam @ Reverbnation

Songs on Reverbnation.

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