When a Shadow Is Forced Into the Light

Swallow the Sun’s third album for Century Media pairs funeral doom’s glacial heaviness with melodic undercurrents that prevent total suffocation. When a Shadow Is Forced Into the Light unfolds across vinyl with the band’s characteristic patience — lengthy tracks built on minor-key guitar lines and Mikko Kotamäki’s cavernous vocals that seem to emanate from deep earth. The Finnish ensemble refuses catharsis, instead offering a kind of beautiful desolation.