Do you know what I didn’t know I needed in my life, until a few hours ago? Japanese melodic death metal. More specifically, the Japanese Melodic Death Metal woven by Galundo Tenvulance on their second album Insomnis Somnia.
I put this on with zero expectations – not being familiar with any of their previous releases – and within minutes I found myself thinking: holy shit, where has this band been all my life?
The first thing that strikes you is how effortlessly this album combines sheer aggression with genuine beauty. Melodic Death Metal is a tricky bastard — too often it falls into glossy, soulless riffs or predictable Gothenburg-worship — but Insomnis Somnia doesn’t play it safe.
It feels like a record carved out of both rage and melancholy, its riffs hitting hard but always threaded with that melodic core that sticks in your chest long after the track ends. It’s music that knows how to be brutal and how to be moving, sometimes in the same breath.
What really hooked me is the atmosphere. There’s this orchestral quality that runs throughout the album, a kind of nocturnal band of angels that makes even the most savage riffs feel like they’re part of some larger, shadowy vision. The band lean into that with their songwriting, weaving in clean passages and moments of almost cinematic stillness before slamming you back into the fire. It never feels jarring, though — it’s seamless, and it keeps you locked in from start to finish.
The guitars are the backbone here, and they’re fucking glorious. Razor-sharp riffs collide with soaring melodies, and just when you think you’ve heard the highlight, they pull out another hook that digs even deeper. The lead work in particular shines: melodic without being cheesy, intricate without being show-offy.
The drumming drives everything forward with ferocity, but it’s not just endless blasting — there’s nuance, groove, and enough variation to keep the songs alive., backed with bass work that must have made fingers bleed.
And the vocals… goddamn. Harsh, guttural, but delivered with a rawness that gives the whole record weight. You believe every word spat into the mic.
Production-wise, Insomnis Somnia nails the balance. It’s clean enough to let the melodies breathe but raw enough to keep its bite. Too polished and it would’ve killed the atmosphere; too murky and it would’ve buried the detail. Here, everything sits exactly where it needs to.
What sets this album apart, though, is intent. You can tell Galundo Tenvulance know what they’re doing — this isn’t just a collection of riffs stitched together, it’s a journey. Each track feels like part of a larger whole, pulling you deeper into the world they’ve created. By the end, you’re not just impressed, you’re fucking invested.
I didn’t know I needed Japanese Melodic Death Metal in my life, but Insomnis Somnia has made me a believer. It’s powerful, it’s atmospheric, it’s sharp as hell, and it proves that the genre still has plenty of life left outside its usual Scandinavian haunts.
This is an album that deserves to be heard far more widely than it will be — and it’s one I’ll be returning to often.
Insomnis Somnia is out now via Spiritual Beast.
CHOICE CUT: One Step Closer
RATING: 4 OUT OF 5
RATING SYSTEM:
- 0: Fucking Shit
- 1: Shit
- 2: Not Bad Shit
- 3: Pretty Good Shit
- 4: Amazing Fucking Shit
- 5: The Best Shit You Will Ever Hear
PRESS SOURCE: Cátia C./Against PR.
