For god’s sake, I cannot believe that INSOMNIUM managed to get even better after the predecessors Across The Dark and One For Sorrow. It was quite difficult to find words at that time, but Shadows Of The Dying Sun leaves me totally breathless caused by its magic, majestic and sometimes quiet-as-church-mice compositions. 

The Finns pour out a cornucopia of highly melodic, deeply emotional chords over the listener and do not forget about driving heaviness besides all melancholy. The melody lines burn a trace into the nerve center in irresistible manner and many egregious refrains let the sun appear for a moment or two. While We Sleep and Revelation inaugurate the round dance of musical augustness, as they offer a fabulous intuition for melodies without brummagem and some ribald elements. Fierce attacks in course of Black Heart Rebellion go together with floating guitar arrangements, so that the rollercoaster ride turns out to be much diversified. I also appreciate the borne build-up of Lose To Night, sending adrenaline through my veins constantly.In this case, the felicitous chorus presents some clear vocals, against what the bigger part of this work is dominated by harsh growls; a hearty piano sequence lowers the pulse, ere Collapsing Words takes your breath away in hit-and-run-style. The balance of impelling severity and perfectly integrated gentleness works out nicely. The River flows quite gentle in the beginning and the acoustic guitars are important for this song’s mood, but the aggression brews unswervingly and unloads in melodic Black Metal parts including some blasts, forming a contrast to the epic structures whilst the eight minutes duration. The more classical track Ephemeral hits the heart in direct manner, the band avoids from bombast and evens the way for the unloading oeuvre The Promethean Song. Elegiac gravity mantles the scenery and gives way to the perfect round-off in form of the title track Shadows Of The Dying Sun. Many different sentiments come to the surface including thoughtfulness and pugnacity. Finally, the refrain throws the last pinch of demureness overboard and the captive audience gets an encore: after the high-class dark-metal-jewel Out To The Sea, the sweaty auditorium can lean back in relaxation while enjoying three acoustic guitar pieces, reaching out to touch the repeat button with a smile on the face…   
In the meantime, INSOMNIUM are an institution in melodic Death Metal genre because of their intense, impulsive and also introvert art in composing!