Iskald slithered out of the arctic tundra and onto the international black metal scene before they’d even reached their twenties. Their debut ‘Shades of Misery’ was a statement of intent to take the Black Metal scene by the balls and if there was any doubt left over it was certainly dispelled by 2008’s ‘Revelations of Reckoning Day’, which took that hunger and sharpened it to a deadly point. Now after two long years the duo are back with their third album ‘The Sun I Carried Alone’.
The album’s intro ‘Alucinor’ sets the mood with its early-Dimmu Borgir-meets-Cradle Of Filth symphonic elegance hidden under the crackle and hiss of a vinyl record. The band then dive headlong into the ferocious ‘Under The Black Moon’, which features an impeccably good riff that is underpinned by haunting and demonic vocals. ‘Natt utover Havet’ almost wanders into Immortal’s territory with its stripped back guitar and drum assault driving the track hard through the speakers, whereas ‘Forged by Wolves’ is a high octane affair with a classic riff that is occasionally permeated by a brief flourish of acoustic guitar that makes for a very dynamic song.
‘I Lys av Mørket’ breaks the seven-minute mark and introduces perhaps the most blatant use of Thrash in any of the tracks thus far which gives the song a different feel from what has gone before as it switches back and forth between thrash riff and black metal battery. The title track is a strangely groovy piece full of the kind of little tricks and changes you’d expect Ihsahn and Satyr Wongraven to come up with. ‘Rigor Mortis’ slows the pace, turns the bass up and plays with the vocal effects for a different but perhaps even the best song on the album. ‘These Dreams Devine’ however, feels a little more formulaic after the previous track, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it is a very solid offering. The album finishes with the eleven-minute long ‘Burning Bridges’, which tears through until the six-minute mark, where things get very interesting and the pace is slowed and the distortion is turned down for a haunting track.
I think it’s safe to say that Iskald already sound like they’ve made ten albums let alone only three! The song writing and production is of a very high quality and the songs each grab your attention. It will be interesting to hear this band’s tenth album and look back on this.
http://www.iskald.com
http://www.myspace.com/iskald
