You could describe Insomnium as many things— ‘gloomy’ is certainly a word that comes to mind— but before anything else, the band are nothing if not consistent. Their tenth studio album ‘Netherworlds’ is the latest in a long line of tried-and-true melodeath successes, and if its title and artwork are anything to go by, Sevänen and company are sticking to their guns once again. This is, for all intents and purposes, just another album from Insomnium: that ain’t such a bad thing.

After the historical theming of 2023’s ‘Anno 1696,’ ‘Netherworlds’ is a return to familiar territory for the band (that territory being, of course, only the darkest and most haunted of lands). Ten albums deep into their career, the group’s song titles are beginning to sound like parodies of themselves— ‘Shadowlife,’ ‘Gleam in the Black’ and ‘Pathways of the Night’ all allude to imagery Insomnium have played around with time and time again— and indeed, if it talks like a melodeath album and walks like a melodeath album, take a wild guess what it might be. ‘The Cold Song’ may open the record on a particularly grandiose note with its dramatic spoken-word poetry and its theatrical keyboard accompaniments, but make no mistake: you know exactly what you’re getting into with this one.

Thank goodness, then, that the group are adhering to formulas they’ve refined and perfected over the last twenty years, delivering yet another round of anthemic choruses, melodic standouts and heartstring-pulling refrains. ‘Shadowlife’ is the quintessential Insomnium track, pouncing on every opportunity to get your blood pumping with extreme confidence. Both Niilo Sevänen and Ville Friman get the chance to make you sing along here, on a cut packed to the gills with excellent guitar work and monstrous riffs— the folk-influenced ‘Remembrance’ and ‘Arch of the Sky’ are no-less infectious, making ‘Netherworlds’ a truly triumphant outing for the band. The exit of longtime member Jani Liimatainen has done little to rock the boat: if anything, Insomnium are forging ahead as strong as ever, finding room for keyboards and orchestrations at every turn.

The remarkable thing about Sevänen and company’s work is their ability to continue to surprise and delight us, even when their music continues to play to their strengths: case in point, ‘The Hour Grows Late,’ an inarguable standout for ‘Netherworlds.’ The longest song to make the cut this time around at eight minutes, the track takes those Insomnium essentials and attempts to push them to even greater heights through sheer conviction— mournful soloing, alien synthesisers and deafening climaxes are just some of the elements the band weave together here, on the record’s humongous centrepiece. ‘The Cold Song’ is not just an effective opener for the project, but a solid indication of the bombast the band were aiming for. Closing ballad ‘Journey’s End’ is dripping with love and sincerity, closing out this collection of eery fairy tales in genuinely wonderful fashion.

These highlights actually have us wishing Insomnium had dared to push the boat a little further out with this one, to deliver a record that truly transcends their usual trappings: ‘Netherworlds’ isn’t home to a bad song, nowhere near, but it does tease at a greater potential that the group seem hesitant to properly capitalise on. The melancholic weeping of ‘Ethereal Sleep’ and the swashbuckling action of ‘The Banished,’ for instance, are both good inclusions, but they struggle to stand out so deep into the tracklist— it’s for this reason that ‘Journey’s End’ stands out like it does. It’s difficult to complain about an album so rock-solid at its core as this one, but nonetheless, it must be said: Insomnium might be playing their cards a little too close to the chest on a middling cut like ‘Gleam in the Black.’

It’s another swing and another hit from Sevänen and company, to literally nobody’s surprise: did you really think the group who made ‘Above The Weeping World,’ ‘One For Sorrow’ and ‘Winter’s Gate’ were going to mess this one up? ‘Netherworlds’ is no reinvention of the Insomnium formula— it might be a little too stock-standard, if anything— but we’re not here to complain. The band have us basking in both hope and despair yet again.