2023’s Anno 1696 saw Finnish melancholic Death Metallers Insomnium draw inspiration from the Torsåker witch trials. It was another fine album in a discography that I really should visit more often, for every time I hear Insomnium, I remember why.
Insomnium – Netherworlds
Release Date: 23 October 2026
Words: Paul Hutchings
It is a landmark album that we are exploring here. The tenth release, Netherworlds combines all the elements that make this band such a joy. Heaviness, riffs, death growls contrasting with gloriously rich cleans, and a melody that allows you to hum along as the songs steamroller their way onwards.
As always, it is bassist and vocalist Niilo Sevänen’s creativity that takes centre stage. We have a new member of the band debuting as well as guitarist Tomy Laisto replaces Jani Liimatainen to add a new edge to the band’s triple lead attack alongside Markus Vanhala and Ville Friman.
Insomnium have made a return to some of their earlier sounds. Unlike Anno 1696, this is anchored in their 2010-2020 period. “One of our goals was to take a couple of steps back towards the classic northern melancholy of albums like Shadows Of The Dying Sun and Heart Like A Grave”, says Vanhala.
“Reaching album number ten naturally made us look back as well”, Friman states. “You could say we adopted a bit of a Best Of philosophy. It may sound like a cliché, but the goal was simple. Write songs that capture everything people love about classic Insomnium while still pushing the sound forward with a few new twists.”
At 53 minutes, Netherworlds is a well-paced and balanced record. Towering riffs and those sweeping melodies that have formed the backbone of the band’s style for over three decades are still strong. It is an instantly recognisable sound, a hallmark stamped hard yet without repetition.
“The line between repeating yourself and embracing your own trademarks is a fine one”, Vanhala says. And he is right. Yes, this is definitively Insomnium, but there is still new music that reaches the ear. This is not a rehash.
After the intro, The Cold Life, it is first single, Shadowlife, that is instantly in your face. The Cold Song is a cover, as Vanhala explains. “Henry Purcell’s centuries-old The Cold Song felt like the perfect way to open the gates. It’s about freezing to death and, according to the story, Purcell himself supposedly met the same fate after his wife would not let him back into the house following a night at the pub. It doesn’t get much more Insomnium than that.”
Aggressive without being overplayed, Shadowlife is the gateway to the rest of the release. Bringing in peers Tomi Joutsen, Tomi Koivusaari and Santeri Kallio of Amorphis on the epic The Hour Grows Late adds heft and breadth. An eight-minute monster, it is a song demanding of attention. It is the central pillar of the album, for sure.
Arch Of The Sky, inspired by the Sámi worldview and the eternal cycle of life, is evidence of a return to the classic Insomnium themes which explore mortality, memory and the fleeting nature of life through older eyes. It features some glorious guitar work, intricate without being at all flashy.
Pathways Of The Night carries a rich melody that the band wrap their work around, with drummer Markus Hirvonen once more showing his class with both brutality and more composed parts. And then Ethereal Sleep bewitches with Blackmore-esque fretwork and a slower, yet crushingly heavier pace that sweeps the legs from under you.
Sevänen’s role as chief lyricist comes to the fore once more, immersed in classic literature for inspiration. “I read a great deal of poetry, both in Finnish and English, to find inspiration. Many of those poets carried a deep melancholy throughout their lives and far too many of them left this world much too soon.”
Netherworlds also benefits from a glorious production thanks to Producer and engineer Miiro Varjus, with Swedish heavyweights Jens Bogren and Tony Lindgren of Fascination Street Studios once again handling the album’s mix and mastering.
It is crystal clear yet still retains some dirt under the nails. “Working with Miiro on my other band Cemetery Skyline convinced me he was exactly the right person for the job”, Vanhala states.
And to round things off, penultimate song The Banished shows Insomnium’s depth and strength. A classic rip-roarer of a track, this is as savage and explosive as they get, with an obvious nod to Iron Maiden mixed in.
That just leaves Journey’s End to close out the record, which the band do in style.
And then there’s the Travis Smith artwork, which is, as always, impressive and adds the final pieces to an album that only gets better the more you play it.
Insomnium release Netherworlds on 23 October 2026 via Century Media. Pre-orders are available from insomnium.lnk.to/Netherworlds.
