ALBUM REVIEW: Innhostinga – Iskald

ISKALD are one of the mainstays of the Norwegian black metal scene since the dawn of the millennium. Since their formation in 2005, the band have put out five excellent albums which have all gone on to build a solid cult reputation for the band and establish them as one of the premier black metal acts in Scandinavia. Their latest full length, Innhostinga comes an whole four years after the release of their seminal Nedom og Nord album, and proves to be just as impressive as its predecessor.

The Atrocious Horror is a slab of razor sharp, acerbic black metal that kicks this album off perfectly. The trite melodies that tinge this track draw the listener in right off the bat, and the keyboards add plenty of grandiose atmosphere to the music. The vocals are, by contrast, icy and acidic, carving through the mix and adding plenty of jarring brilliance to this song. This is modern black metal done excellently; combining a classic sound with discordant flourishes and great production. No Amen picks up where the previous track left off, with incredibly tight and precise rhythms being complemented by beautifully discordant and fierce sounding lead guitar hooks and the haunting growl of the vocals. It’s got a subtle thrash metal influence, with some really solid bass and rhythm guitar performances that incorporate dense chugging in amongst the elaborate licks that liberally pepper this track.

Offer av Livet slows the pace drastically, with solid, mid-paced drumming and restrained guitar and bass sections marking the songs opening motif. When the vocals enter the fray, the sound opens up vastly, adding a much more powerful sound to the proceedings. This treads a path that is much closer to a traditional black metal sound, although the band are still able to add in elements that add a unique flavour and style, which keeps this song interesting throughout.

Even Dawn Drew Twilight, a gargantuan track with plenty of excellent progressive embellishments, provides lots of this tracks overall intensity, with solid, ferocious drumming, grandiose guitar compositions and some of the most impressive vocal deliveries on the album thus far. The powerful and aggressive side of the song is counterpointed with some glorious acoustic passages that help to bridge the gap between the first and second halves of the track incredibly well, adding a bit more variety to a song that already possesses a plethora of great ideas, riffs and performance styles. Resting, Not In Peace takes the progressive aspects of the last song and makes them one of this songs focal points, blending an unorthodox style with the more tried and tested formula of black metal to great effect. The sound, as a whole, is far more robust and feels much more intense as a result. In particular, the vicious guitar parts on this song sound much thicker than they have on the first four songs. The vocals, likewise, are dripping with piss and venom from start to finish, which only serves to make this sound all the more primal and angry.

De Siste Vintre sees ISKALD scale back in terms of ferocity, slowing the pace significantly and incorporating lots of cleaner tones that give this a far more measured and sanguine feel, although their darker side is still on full display here, with haunting vocals, intricate and technical drums and some genuinely imaginative lead guitars that, as they have done at earlier points on the record, managed to cram this songs six and a half minute span with tonnes of impressive and instantly memorable licks.

From Traitor to Beast is one of the record’s most frenetic, chaotic and bestial offerings. This is due in no small part to the aggression that can be heard in the guitars, the precise and intense drumming, and the, as always, vicious and bleak vocals. The tempo of this song eventually does begin to decrease drastically, and the emotive focus of the music begins to shift from the vicious and intense to the dark and eerie, allowing the track to come to an end on a different, but nonetheless brilliant, note than it started. This is an undeniably dark and fierce track, and it proves to be one of the album’s main highlights. If you like your black metal fast, melancholic and visceral, this is most certainly the track for you.

The climactic track on the record, Lysene som Forsvant, is an incredibly atmospheric, mid-paced affair that shows the bands much more measured side really well, with some much lighter and bombastic sections making up the bulk of the song. The vocals, in contrast to the actual music, are ferociously catchy and grim, which adds plenty of power and harshness to the proceedings. The song gradually develops a much more menacing edge as its final moments approach, but, when compared to the songs before and after it, it’s far more relaxed, and has a great ambience to it. It’s a refreshing change of pace that works incredibly well on this point of the record. The album’s closing, self-titled track is a blaze of vicious guitars and thunderous drumming, which really allows the lead guitar parts to come into their own. Peppered with plenty of great sounding progressive motifs, this song really showcases the virtuosic guitar skills of Simon Larsen from start to finish. Jumping seamlessly between dark, dissonant riffs and tight, solid melodic sections, it’s an incredibly imaginative piece of music without a single dull moment. It’s an amazing track to cap off an equally amazing album.

Innhøstinga could very well prove to be one of the album’s of the year, not just in relation to black metal, but metal music in general. It has some of the most imaginative black metal musicianship you’re likely to hear this year, and has just the right amount of progressive elements in there to keep it fresh and exciting from the first note to the last. It’s clear that in the four year interim between Nedom og Nord and Innhostinga, ISKALD have truly honed their craft, and this album, as a result, is one of their best to date. It will be interesting to see how the band are able to top this record, as the nine songs on here have raised the bar substantially for them. If any future music is at the very least on par with this record, it will be exceptional.

Rating: 9/10

Innhøstinga is out now via Indie Recordings.

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