Written: 10th January 2025
Promoted as Thousand Lakes (an alternative name for Finland) Melodic Death Metal, quartet Thy Kingdom Will Burn received some positive praise for their self-titled debut and its follow up The Void and the Vengeance. Four years after the release of that second album, the band return with The Loss and Redemption, an album that deals with loneliness and the longing we have to escape the chaos of modern life.
While there was much to enjoy across the band’s first two albums, it is clear that with The Loss and Redemption, the band have challenged themselves in terms of songwriting and structure. Opening track Perpetual Void begins with a howling wind that is suddenly interrupted by rapid riffs and percussion, which initially have some of the rhythms and timbres one might expect from eidolic black metal but also the sirenic charm of melodic death metal. A minute in, the song settles into a steady swaying beat, and powerful growling vocals from Sami Kujala begin. Living up to the album’s billing, Perpetual Void, which is encapsulated within maritime metaphors, immediately evokes a sense of desolation and existential malaise through lyrics laden with pathos. My heart is filled with grief / Fragile, and broken apart / Nothing feels like worth the fight / Feels like it’s the end of all / These wounds, they will not heal / But remind me of the life I lived. The sheer sense of scale on Perpetual Void is another element that Thy Kingdom Will Burn have continued to develop within their sound. Although it has an infectious chorus, it is a track that changes direction several times and does not solely rely on the chorus to maintain the interest of the listener; the dual guitar work of Esa Virén and Kujala in the middle of the song is enthralling - a wonderful opening statement from the quartet and a contender for the best track on the album.
Obscure Existence starts with a Viking Metal-esque riff than hints at a greater sense of purpose. We’re searching for answers / Of this pointless and cruel being / Once so mighty and full of hope / Future all planned for glory. The driving and focussed rhythms grab us and take us along for the ride. As they did on The Void and Vengeance, Thy Kingdom Will Burn make use of piano during moments of quiet between the crushing riffs that build as the song develops. Lauri Virén’s drums sit well within the mix, not threatening to ever overwhelm the other instruments but not so back that they become lost. At the three minute mark, the band fall away and luminous synths take flight allowing a sense of hope to flood through the song. Clean vocals take up the narrative and introduce yet another element to the album.
Martyrs of Killing Floor steps up the levels of tension while simultaneously maintaining the band’s commitment to melody. There are darker forces at work during this song and the piano accompanies the guitars, imbuing moments of the track with a gothic atmosphere which is in juxtaposition to the more metallic aspects. The solos are rapid and soaring rather than slow and melodic, which perfectly suits the aura. Forever In Dark begins by stepping further into death metal aspects of the music, with Kujala at his most acerbic; however, just as we expect the song to continue in this more abrasive style, the melodic embellishments return during a slower spoken word section. There are some interesting lyrical sections of The Loss and Redemption and here, the band delve into the thought that darkness is not merely the absence of light but that it can be a profound, eternal companion offering solace and a place of belonging. When the darkness descends, it always feels like home / In the silence, my heart is burning slow / Haste won’t wear me down, eat away my soul / When the darkness descends, it always feels like home.
With Escape From Solitude, a track which balances the use of clean and growling vocals, Thy Kingdom Will Burn show that they are prepared to use a wide variety of flourishes in order to bring something different to their music as orchestral embellishments feature at different points in the song. While I am always interested to hear bands trying different things, the keyboards on Escape From Solitude do not work as well as on other tracks and appear more as an add-on than a truly essential part of the overall sound, which is unusual across the course of the album. More successful is the ensorcelling Suffering Sky – one of the best tracks on The Loss and Redemption - which tramples and marauds with a simmering zeal for most of its running time, Janne Russkanen’s bass torrid and fervent. A feeling of urgency pervades the song as Kujala intones with self-deprecating malevolence. These are the days When life feels torture / And stars refuse to shine on me / When clouds above throws needles down / And hell finds home in heart. Here, the mid-song melodic break feels perfectly positioned and gives a moment for the protagonist to reflect on his dark predicament.
On a track which uses keyboards far more effectively, They Have Come retains the tempo and impetus of Suffering Sky, which in its heavier moments are reminiscent of Dark Tranquillity but in its more progressive and melodic aspects has hints of Evergrey. Whichever is the case, it is one of the most re-listenable songs. Dreams Of Calamity and the pounding To End Of Times take us towards the end of the album with the latter alternating between the visceral and the sonorous.
Final track, Sydänyö (Midnight in English – literally translating as heart of the night) is two pronged in nature: balladlike and plaintive in places, barbed and desperate in others. It grapples with themes of inner turmoil and despair while the protagonist conveys his yearning for inner peace. Taivunko manian valtaan / vai etsinkö tieni ulos / on pakko päästä pois / pelko järkeni sumentaa (A bend in the mania / Or do I find my way out / I've got to get away / Fear is clouding my judgment). No track on the album better evokes the atmosphere of the frozen north and the quartet draw on a significant amount of drama in telling their tale.
On The Loss and Redemption, Thy Kingdom Will Come may not be breaking huge amounts of new ground in terms of the genre as a whole but this builds wonderfully on the template and ideas laid down by their previous releases. It will certainly appeal to fans of Melodic Death Metal who enjoy the sense of balance between the heavy and the melodic. From darkly brooding to icily melancholic, there is also more than enough musical and vocal variation across the album’s running time to retain the focus of listeners who appreciate the opportunity to immerse themselves in different moods. Their best album to date.
FFO: Insomnium, Dark Tranquillity, Borknagar, Amorphis, Sentenced
The Loss and Redemption is released on 17th January 2025.
Thy Kingdom Will Burn online
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