Finnish melodic death metal masters INSOMNIUM have released their new single, “The Reticent”, via Century Media Records. An accompanying music video, which was directed by renowned videographer Vesa Ranta, can be seen below.
INSOMNIUM guitarist Ville Friman states: “The past year has been a difficult one. People have lost their loved ones, jobs and livelihoods. Hope has been replaced by fear, anxiety and uncertainty. We have all been forced to live our lives in isolation, detached both physically and mentally. This song is about all those feelings. An inner dialogue of hope and hopelessness. During this time, music has been a source of comfort and solace. Something to rely on and return to. And while we have become withdrawn and reticent, our music tolls now ever stronger.”
Due to the ongoing pandemic, Friman, unfortunately, wasn’t able to join the video shoot.
After reaching pole position on official Finnish album charts and hitting German Top 10 with the acclaimed album “Heart Like A Grave” in October 2019, INSOMNIUM was once again supposed to entertain the legions of metal addicts all around the world. And that’s what these gentlemen did for the time being: there was definitely no absence of severe headbanging… well, until mid-March 2020 when the good old world abruptly closed its curtains.
Drummer Markus Hirvonen previously told Sonic Perspectives about “Heart Like A Grave”: “In my opinion, this is easily the strongest INSOMNIUM record we have ever done. There weren’t any plans for diversifying or anything. Maybe the recording of the [2016] ‘Winter’s Gate’ [album] kind of opened the gates in a way for us that we could prove to us that, ‘Okay, there are no boundaries in a way. We can explore all the directions we want. I’m not saying we went like full-on to some weird directions, but yeah, it kind of opened the treasure box for us in a way that we can expand tempo-wise and the timings of the songs, we can play slower and faster and so. Also, maybe explore with the time signatures a bit more, but still keeping the INSOMNIUM [feeling] behind it. It wasn’t like a decision that we were going to diversify our material, but it came up.”
INSOMNIUM is:
Markus Hirvonen – Drums
Ville Friman – Guitars
Niilo Sevänen – Vocals, Bass
Markus Vanhala – Guitars
Jani Liimatainen – Guitars, Vocals