Istapp : "Sól Tér Sortna"

 

This Swedish band's first album has remained my favorite, so let's see how their fourth album holds up against it. It's melodic black metal with a thrashing intensity so true to who they are as a band when things kick off with the harmonized buzz of guitars. Synths and sung vocals play a marginally larger role in the song's overall feel. In 2010 when their first album was released fewer bands did this sort of thing The buzz of the guitar while melodic begins to feel formulaic as they go back to the well again.  There is more of TYR feel to the sung vocals. The break in the second song works really well and I would like to hear more of that brand of experimentation work its way into their songwriting here.

"Gryla" finds things thankfully switching up to a darker throb. This takes things in a much more black-metal direction. "Storm Av Is" finds more of a traditional metal gallop coming into play with more folk metal elements coloring the song. This works for me, as it takes the emphasis of the typical black metal buzz of racing guitars. It is brighter in sound, but in the interest of having a more dynamic overall experience with this album, I prefer it to just the same thing being hammered at you to the point of numbing your ears out. "Frostdraken" brings back the more blackened buzz, and rapid-fire attack, for those who are fans of that sort of thing. The title track is also off to the races with a similar vibe though marginally more melodic, though still workings off their formula for this sort of thing. 

Of course, a song called "Ragnarok" has to have the folky feel of a biking drinking song, though when it kicks in despite dialing the bpms back a little it does have more of a black metal slant. The last two songs sit solidly within the blackened thrash realm of what this band does consistently. They are solid enough songs, that work for what they are doing for here. I will give this album an 8.5, it's a refinement in what you expect this band to do. It drops March 6th on Trollzorn records.  

pst14

The Top 10 Metal Albums of 2015 So Far

The year halfway gone and I wondering why I am so late getting around to doing this. There have not been a ton of metal album this year that really made me crave pressing play on my iPod to hear them repeatedly. I think we are at a place where something needs to happen to shake the trend of this blackened everything murk of death metal. Why albums like Pallbearer's album from last year stand out is it was not on any bandwagon. There already is a Deathspell Omega and Deafheaven so the bands imitating them need to get a clue. These albums bucked most of the trends, but I feel the quality of where we were at in previous July's is not here. Bu for what they are these albums have set the bar for the rest of the year.


10-Istapp -"Frostbiten"

This one has yet to make it over into the promise land of my iPod, this doesn't take anything away from this album as the top three are they only ones who have remained on my iPod since I got them. So that is not to deminish the power of this icy black metal.



http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/06/istapp-frostbiten.html


 9- Nevoa -" Absence of Void" While hipsters are wasting their time with False they are missing out on this pristine piece of black metal.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/06/nevoa-absence-of-void.html

8-Paradise Lost - "the Plague Within" Another fine album that I can only attribute the fact it did not get more air time to the fact that I listen to two are three new albums a day so they are really slugging it out for my attention and metal that is a little more middle of the road doesn't hit the spot when I want something really heavy.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/05/paradise-lost-plague-within.html

 8- Khors -"Night Falls Onto the Front of Ours" As I have been going through the list and giving these albums more though part of the problem with metal to today's is that bands who aren't black metal bands are trying to be black metal bands and the real black metal bands are trying not to be. Solid metal album, whose only flaw is not giving over to their dark side.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/04/khors-night-fall-onto-front-of-ours.html

 7- A Forest of Stars -"Beware the Sword You Can Not See" When it comes to progressive metal these guys are still nailing it, but some of the weirdness particularly with the narrative like  tone to the vocals hasn't given it a long residency on the old iPod.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-forest-of-stars-beware-sword-you-can.html

6- Enslaved - In Times These guys are in fine form, not sure why I have not felt as compelled to listen to this album as much as those above it. Perhaps they are in that Opeth middle of the road place now. Viking metal for pot smokers.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/03/enslaved-in-times.html

 5- Vattnett Viskar- "Settler" Enslaved might have gotten a higher rating when I reviewed the album but this album is one of the few that have stood the test of time and held its ground on the iPod.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/05/vattnett-viskar-settler.html

 4-Karyn Crisis' Gospel of Witches The least heavy of all the albums on this list, but one of the most interesting and the best metal vocal performance so far. I need to give this one more time.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/02/karyn-crisis-gospel-of-witches.html

3- The Slow Death- "Ark" The best doom album thus far.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-slow-death-ark.html 

2-Liturgy - "the Ark Work" Hunter can be too much of a  hipster for most, but this album is different than any other on this list and that makes me want to listen to it rather than a band that sounds like very other death metal band.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/03/liturgy-ark-work.html

1- Tribulation- " the Children of the Night" Watain rubbed off on them, but this dash of black metal attitude played to their favor, one of the years best written albums period.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2015/03/tribulation-children-of-night.html

Istapp : "Frostbiten"

After playing the hell out of this band's first album when it came out in 2010, the five year wait for this one had me wondering if they had fallen into the where are they now file. Things have changed. Right out the gate it doesn't touch on thrash as much as their first album and fall more in line with what you would normally expect from black. The opener is much faster than anything from the first album. The title track brings thing back closer to the first album with a viking chorus singing the clean vocals. The riffs are more refined and drumming more precise on "Kall" which pulls from a darker place of anger. There is a more berserker punk mania to the frantic pacing of "Skoll" that blasts off with the guitar melodies trying to keep up. These almost folk flavored melodies gave the first album more of a pagan feel, where this album is heavier and in your face with every chug meticulously in place.

The bass coils into melodies of its own when the blur of riff relents enough to provide such breathing room. The baritone chanted vocals call out from the background and never demand the spotlight. They maneuver tricky syncopation and summon pretty epic passages  to come flying out at in speeds twice as fast as their debut. The melodic section in "Primum Frigidum"doesn't come across as being contrived, but a needed shift in dynamics. The touch on the thrashy side of their previous album on "Polcirkelns Herre" or the Arctic Lord. They do slow for the punches on the chant that would be a chorus of sorts. "Fimbulvinter" fall back into a more blast beaten form of  frosty black metal, though the bass playing wanders out from under the drums and continues to be one of the albums strengths.

They reclaim their melodic pagan sound capturing a hooky groove as they scale to epic new snow covered heights on" Ma Det Aldrig Toa".  The barbarian men's chorus chimes in again on this one. The continue to show their keen ear for arrangements here as the song takes plenty of twists and turns without feeling cluttered. The speedy guitar sticks to its melody on the rapid palm muted gallop of
"Vinterland" that finds the vocals carrying a convincing snarl and going back to the place I liked so much on their first album where they are still growling but following the intervals of the guitar melody in such a way that it comes across more like singing.  They close out the album with the catchy chugging that dominates "Vit Makt"  or "white power that from the lyrics sung in their native tongue are more about the power of the white snow and NSBM. They don't have the same manic feral thrash as their first album, they have matured into a darker more punishing machine without compromising their melodic nature. This is going to be one of the best black metal albums of the year. I will round it up to a 9, as there are a few moments where they sound like every other black metal band, the gravitational pull of the genres confines don't mar the quality in the big picture of the album, there is just some dissonance it hearing this at the same band whose first album I wore, but the high bar I had for them might settle for me after continued listens. Granted listening to an album about frosty winter in the dogs days of summer can be hard, this will be more appreciated when things cool down. Hot months call for more death metal which is why Tampa was such a hot bed for it.