Swallow The Sun

Formed in Jyväskylä, Finland, around guitarist and composer Juha Raivio in the early 2000s, Swallow the Sun sits in a melodic death-doom lineage where slow tempos, massive guitars, melancholic lines and the alternation between harsh vocals and clean singing intersect. The band takes shape with Mikko Kotamäki on vocals, Matti Honkonen on bass, Markus Jämsen on guitar and Aleksi Munter on keyboards, and releases its debut album, The Morning Never Came, in 2003, followed by Ghosts of Loss in 2005 and Hope in 2007. Over the years, Swallow the Sun broadens its language by integrating gothic, acoustic and sometimes funeral doom nuances, a development particularly evident on the triple album Songs from the North I, II & III in 2015, and then on When a Shadow Is Forced into the Light in 2019, more restrained and atmospheric. The discography also includes New Moon in 2009, Emerald Forest and the Blackbird in 2012 and Moonflowers in 2021. Used to European and North American tours as well as metal festivals, Swallow the Sun has shared the bill with bands such as Katatonia, Insomnium, Apocalyptica or Children of Bodom, while maintaining an identity based on a dark, melodic and introspective doom.