Finland’s Sinisthra - featuring Amorphis frontman Tomi Joutsen - have signed with Italian label Rockshots Records for the release of their album, The Broad And Beaten Way. Best described as sadness tinged with despair and hope, the new album encapsulates raw emotion set against heavy and brooding music. 

Check out the official lyric video for the first single, "Closely Guarded Distance":

This album comes 15 years after the debut record, Last Of The Stories Of Long Past Glories, and its manifestation has been a slow and arduous process. The songs were written ages ago while other projects, primarily vocalist Tomi Joutsen’s presence in Amorphis, were given priority from the band members.

Guitarist Markku Mäkinen writes the majority of the music for the highly elusive band, whose original and complex sound has often been mislabeled. The band explains the evolution of their music:

"We all had a history in thrash and death metal bands, but when the band originally came together in 2000, there was not much metal at all in the sound, it was leaning more towards grunge and at times trip-hop. After the first album in 2005, the sound took a lot more metallic turn and something came in from '70s prog as well. Metal genres are irrelevant to us."

The name for the album comes from Paradise Lost by John Milton; The Broad and Beaten Way is a bridge from Hell to Earth with the lyrics taking inspiration from the fall of man and from leading a chaotic and self-destructive modern day life and trying to find solid ground and perhaps even some peace of mind. "Eterne" is the first song, where the metaphorical Adam and Eve are expelled, both from Eden and from their union, and in the last song, "Ephemeral", Adam, solitary, finally accepts his past actions as futile.

The melancholic sojourn, suitable for fans of Katatonia, Anathema, and Amorphis will be available in May 2020.

Tracklist:

"Eterne" (4:19)
"Closely Guarded Distance" (13:10)
"Halfway To Somewhere Else" (7:43)
"Morning Frail" (5:56)
"Safe In The Arms Of The Everlasting Now" (7:26)
"Ephemeral" (4:05)