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When I read that this was a Swedish melodic Death Metal band, I was a bit apprehensive, as that scene has been stagnating for a while and the "leaders" have been heading in more commercial directions. Well, I've been listening to this album quite a bit and while the basics of melodic Death Metal are there, Pandemonium have gone their own way where the others have gone astray. You can hear influences from early In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, but the comparisons really stop there - it's in fact pretty difficult to give an accurate comparison of this band's music. Suffice it to say that if you like early melodic death metal, you'll most likely like "Insomnia".

The keyboards are quite present, but keep their place as a supporting instrument, leaving the stage to the guitars and drums - but at times they get more into the foreground and accompany the guitars in some very good melodies. One thing that sets these guys apart is the use of three types of vocals - death growls, black metal screeches and also some clean vocals. Now if I'm not mistaken, there are at least two, if not three different vocalists doing each type of vocals (hey, guys, some more info on band members on your site would be nice! ;)), so instead of having one vocalist good at one genre and mediocre in the others, here you have each one doing his thing, and the result is excellent. The music is quite melodic, but in a classic heavy metal kind of way. There are more brutal passages, of course, but the band has achieved a very good balance between the two.

I was pretty much tired of the melodic death stuff, but I think Pandemonium has reconciled me with the genre. Highly recommended.