Barren Earth - On Lonely Towers (2015)

"Love is the hand that wrecks my flesh
Love is the eye that stares silent upon my aching wounds"

Finnish progressive death/doom group Barren Earth has released its third album, which is the first to feature Faroese singer Jón Aldará, who replaced Swallow the Sun frontman Mikko Kotamäki last year. On Lonely Towers sees the band stepping in a more progressive and complex direction.

The band's musical ingredients haven't changed drastically, but the effects of the line-up change can be heard, obviously the most in the vocals: Aldará is a great growler with a voice reminiscent of Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt in the late 90s and early 00s, but his clean vocals have an operatic and dramatic quality, and his range is much wider than Kotamäki's.

After the beautiful intro "From the Depths of Spring" the proper opener "Howl" kicks in; mostly a mid-tempo song, it gets doomy in the middle, yet also includes a cool wah-wah solo by Sami Yli-Sirniö and blastbeats, which are a new element in the band's sound. "Frozen Processions" is the most typical Barren Earth song on the album and also the most accessible. "A Shapeless Derelict" includes a haunting cello intro and is rather doomy, but also enters pure death metal territory towards the end. Video track "Set Alight" is the most memorable song on the album despite its 7½-minute length and tricky instrumental section, as it includes a catchy chorus and great melodies. Unfortunately On Lonely Towers is brought down by the unnecessarily long title-track and the forgettable "Chaos, the Songs Within". I wish they would've included the interesting bonus track "Sirens of Oblivion" - which includes a sax solo! - on the album instead of those two. Luckily the album ends on a high note with the epic "The Vault".

On Lonely Towers is a decent album, but only "Set Alight" and "The Vault" match the melodic greatness of its precedessors. Almost all the songs on the album are over 7 minutes long, and the shortest tracks are at the beginning of the album, which makes the rest of the record feel unbalanced and homogenous. However, Aldará is a great addition to the band and On Lonely Towers shows a lot of potential. I can see the next Barren Earth album being a great release if they finetune and refine the sound of this record.

Rating: 3/5