Not content with being home to some of the finest doom and black metal bands on the planet, Peaceville have recently been outdoing themselves on the re-issue front. Always renowned for their efforts at packaging, with these special sets (Isengard comes as a double CD, while Darkthrone, reviewed separately, comes as a double CD or 180gm Vinyl) the label have truly excelled themselves, offering up super-jewel cases complete with bonus discs offering an exclusive commentary from Fenriz on the creation of the album and the artwork fully intact.
Isengard’s ‘Hostmorke’ was the second album released by Fenriz under that name and it is a stunning, icy collection of folk, doom, black metal and rock all held together by the charismatic strength of Fenriz’s idiosyncratic voice and the sheer wealth of influences that can be found throughout the disc. While the first album, ‘vinterskugge’ was a collection rather than an album recorded in the traditional sense, ‘hostmorke’ offers up a more coherent sound that touches upon all the bases one would expect from Fenriz while guest appearances from Aldrahn and Victonik add a sense of occasion to the disc.
Opening with the droning, heavily folk influenced ‘neslepaks’ sets the tone immediately. The recording is raw, with the guitars buzzing insistently while Fenriz’s voice is a mixture of his usual deathly growl, Celtic Frost moments and a sombre tone more suited to doom than black metal. It’s a track that requires multiple listens, but after time the elements combine and you realise that it’s a complex, beautiful, savage, albeit slightly ungainly track that is the perfect opener for the record. ‘Landet og havet’ contains an echoing vocal that sounds as if it has been piped in from another time, echoing across the ages to the present day and you’re once again struck by the purity of Fenriz’s voice. ‘I kamp med kvitekrist’ contains a hornet’s nest of guitars buzzing away but for all of its primitive savagery, it still sounds medieval thanks to the strangely archaic chord progressions and Fenriz’s powerful vocal. It is this dynamic between the traditional and the deathly that makes this such a special album, with each track hinting at a deep knowledge of history, tradition and culture even despite the heavy riffs that scream out of the speakers. ‘I ei gran borti nordre asen’ is a case in point as it opens as one might imagine the music at a medieval banquet to sound before a lone guitar augments the melody instantly making the sound somehow starker and more elemental.
Offering a change of pace is the doom-ridden ‘over de syngende ode moer’ which is a starkly simplistic and effective take on Reverend Bizarre’s doom blueprint. As a committed doom fan it’s easily one of my favourite tracks on the record and it shows a different side to Fenriz’s musical canon. However, while the previous track may showcase a different set of dynamics to Fenriz’s day job, ‘thornspawn chalice’ is, as the title suggests, pure black metal with churning guitars and a vocal ripped straight from the bowels of hell. Equally the excellently titled ‘total death’ which closes out the album is an icy blast of chilling black that could give frostbite to the sunniest disposition with its withering blasts of stripped down guitar action and guttural vocals.
Overall this is a more than worthy re-issue. The bonus disc offers a decent commentary and fans of the band will revel over the level of detail that Fenriz is able to go into and while it is unusual to have a CD commentary disc, in the case of Fenriz – an artist shrouded in mystery – it’s a welcome bonus that sheds some light on a prolific, fascinating personality in the realms of underground metal. An excellent job from an ever-reliable label.
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