Vocalists are becoming like the NFL running back position of the metal world: a great one is always a valuable commodity, but there seem to be a lot of serviceable journeymen out there that can get the job done. Hell, just in the past six or so months alone Matt Hallquist was ousted from Armageddon before their latest album was even released, Uta Plotkin ditched Witch Mountain before the band went on tour for their new album, and Nightwish is set to finally release their first album with Floor Jansen. Add another to the list, as Finnish sextet Barren Earth welcome new singer Jón Aldará to the fold.
The truth is that the vocalist position is no more likely to be a revolving door roster slot than any other in the band – probably less so, if anything – but it's inarguably the most visible in most cases. In Barren Earth's case, though, I feel like they've primarily been known as "the side project from that Kreator guitarist [Sami Yli-Sirniö]", in spite of the fact that the band also originated as a side project of Swallow the Sun singer Mikko Kotamäki. In fact, it was scheduling conflicts that led to Kotamäki's departure, and one could probably make the case that the seeming increase in rotating vocalists is a direct result of an undeniable upswing in metal side projects. In any event…
As with many bands that start off mixing and matching disparate sub-genre tropes to varying effect, Barren Earth have grown exponentially in terms of both scale and sophistication since 2009's debut EP, Our Twilight. The 70's prog rock influences so noted on early releases have gradually through attrition begun to subsume the band's entire modus operandi (witness Kasper Mårtenson try his hand at old Keith Emerson organ runs on "The Vault"), but the doom death vertebrae from previous releases remains largely intact, positioning On Lonely Towers dangerously close to schizophrenic territory at times.
Not to worry. These guys are all old hands at compositional complexity, knowing enough about the balance of listener expectations to break us in with a melodic, epically catchy straightforward doom death number on "Howl" – a seemingly deliberate showpiece for Aldará's versatile singing – before challenging us with the goth prog suites of "A Shapeless Derelict" and "Set Alight" and then unfurling the dizzying tapestry of the title track and "Sirens of Oblivion", the latter featuring the increasingly metal-friendly saxophone interlude.
In spite of its complexity, On Lonely Towers offers little in the way of newness or innovation, but the actual craftsmanship and virtuosity brought to the table should amply please fans of similar fare such as Katatonia, Anathema or even Enslaved. It's also enervating to watch a guy like Sami Yli-Sirniö deviate so far from his main gig in Kreator, as most side projects wind up being a minor variation at best, with many reduced to a mere dumping ground for material that didn't make the cut with the artist's main band.
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