Album Review: As The Sun Falls – "Songs From The Veil"
As The Sun Falls are here with the album "Songs From The Veil", their most fully realised attempt yet to capture that world. As The Sun Falls don't simply write music;
By Dimitris (Bari) Polyzois
The As The Sun Falls don't just write music; they build a psychic landscape where nature, myth and human experience merge into one. "Songs From The Veil" is perhaps their most fully realised attempt to capture that world.
Aesthetically, the record operates at a threshold: somewhere between the tangible and the intangible. The nods to Finnish mythology – Soulbird, Fire Fox, creation narratives – work as symbols, not as narrative ornamentation. The veil of the title isn't merely a poetic image. It's the line separating life from memory, the physical from the spiritual.
Aesthetically, the record operates at a threshold: somewhere between the tangible and the intangible.
"As Night Devours" is the most characteristic example of this approach. The track doesn't simply "build" tension – it insinuates it. Night doesn't fall abruptly, it spreads. And along with it, the music takes on an almost ritualistic gravity. Unlike many contemporary releases in the genre, here melody doesn't function as a counterweight to the aggression. It's an equal element. The guitars don't merely alternate between riff and lead – they create layers that interact with one another. The result is a constant motion, like a current beneath ice.
Mikael Andersson's production serves exactly this logic: clarity without sterility, heft without murkiness. It leaves room for the atmosphere to breathe, something that's crucial for a record that leans so heavily on mood.
In conclusion
All in all, "Songs From The Veil" isn't a record that "grabs" you on the first listen. It demands time – and it rewards attention. It's an introspective work, almost contemplative. A multi-layered, atmospheric album that proves that As The Sun Falls see melodic death metal as a means of expression – not as a form.
