Release date: 31st August 2018
After not quite being ‘gripped’ by the previous full-length effort from Iskald, I was eager to check out their latest album, Innhøstinga, to see how the band had progressed. It’s not quite going to win any awards for originality, but it’s definitely a little bit more engaging.
Fourth track Even Dawn Drew Twilight is an early highlight; there’s a fantastic energy to it and the snarled vocals add a good element of darkness to the track, packing a real punch, and the main guitar melody juxtaposes well against them. Another great inclusion is penultimate track Lysene som Forsvant, which has a somewhat melancholic vibe to it courtesy of the more melodic feel to the instrumentation as a whole, and it shows another side to Iskald.
As a whole, however, it doesn’t seem like there’s a great deal of variety from song to song. It’s musically solid but it feels like Iskald could do more to make a bigger impact on the listener. There’s no doubting it’s a decent listen but it doesn’t stand out from the crowd – and arguably that’s one of the most important things to consider with an album.
6.5/10
