For nearly twenty years, Hanging Garden have quietly dabbled in the same sort of melodic melancholy as their more well-known counterparts, Katatonia, Insomnium, and Swallow the Sun. I first wandered into their brand of gothic sadboi melodoom with 2021’s Skeleton Lake, thanks to Steel’s glowing writeup. While I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard from them since, what really hooked me was their 2025 EP, The Unending. They really honed their melodic game, particularly with an incredible hook on “Morgan’s Trail,” and I was hopeful this EP was a sign of a new direction for the band. Well, they do take a new direction, but not quite the one I expected. Despite its cheerful name, Isle of Bliss proves to be a much darker work than you may be accustomed to from this septet. Their newfound darkness opens up layers of depth, proving the band capable of bringing out beauty from even the darkest depths.
Despite the darker direction, Hanging Garden still dabble in a wide range of moods. On Isle of Bliss, they skillfully blend crushing riffs and Toni Hatakka’s deathly, muscular growls with gentle arpeggios and soft croons from Riikka Hatakka. Opener “To Outlive the Nine Ravens” illustrates this perfectly, as it blends dark growls with lovely trem melodies and a gentle duet with some more feel-good trems in an energetic tune that starts the record off right. Isle of Bliss then takes an unsettling turn on “Eternal Trees of Turquoise,” which features a duet of a different nature, where Toni’s menacing growls mix with Riikka’s sinister blackened rasps. Her performance reminded me a lot of the demon vocalist from Vesseles earlier this year, and it is a chilling turn away from the usual foil to Toni’s harsh growls. Things take yet another turn on the appropriately named “Isle of Bliss” and deceptively named “To the Gates of Hel.” These cheerful tunes feature uplifting guitar tones and some wonderfully catchy choruses sure to put your fearful heart at ease. In sum, Isle of Bliss is a moody beast that will hit you in all the feels.
Isle of Bliss contains lush beauty thanks to its patient and melodic songwriting. At times, Hanging Garden shines a light through the darkness with soaring choruses and powerful melodic guitar leads that turn gloom into cheer. On “The Blights Nine,” a trem lead dispels the terrifying horror of Riikka’s rasps, while on “Arise, Black Sun,” the guitar melody transforms a growling duet into a piece of blackened beauty. The tremolos and the tour-de-force vocal performances from the Hatakka pair are not the only aspects that elevate the music. Hanging Garden use chugging, thick riffs to cast a doomy pall, whispery synths to invoke dreamy atmospherics, and piano segments to produce feelings of tranquility. All of these elements coalesce on the atmospheric climax, “Her Wailing Light,” whose beautiful chorus is a wonder in a sea of some great moments throughout Isle of Bliss.
As much as I didn’t want this record to end, there are a few areas where Hanging Garden could have done some trimming. “To Outlive the Nine Ravens” and “To the Gates of Hel” creep nearly into the seven-minute range, where their repetitive, formulaic nature begins to grow thin. Yet they are such terrific songs that the desire to stretch them out is forgivable. Perhaps the biggest letdown is the finale, “Beneath the Fallen Sky,” an atmospheric piece that lacks the punch of preceding tracks. “Her Waning Light” feels like a much more appropriate closer, with its emotional trem lead followed by such a tranquil conclusion. “Beneath the Fallen Sky” may fit a narrative arc as a resolution, and it’s really not a bad song, yet I think it’s just in the nature of resolutions to sometimes feel unsatisfying in the wake of highly emotional moments that precede them.
While I am a relative newbie to Hanging Garden, as far as I can tell, Isle of Bliss is their finest achievement to date. The addition of darker aspects to their sound, while remaining true to their roots, brings depth to their songwriting. Almost every song packs a wallop thanks to powerful singing and incredibly catchy and evocative guitar leads. This band poured their heart and soul into this one. It is a stunning record that will leave you in a state of bliss from start to finish.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Agonia Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: March 20th, 2026
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