ISKALD - Curse of the Mind
Dusktone
I've been a fan of Norway's ISKALD ever since I checked out their second full length Revelations of Reckoning Day which came out in 2008 on Indie Recordings. In fact whenever we get our first snow down where I live here in North Carolina I play that CD in order to feel grim and frosty. I've followed their career buying all of their full lengths and enjoyed em all.
But their last album, Innhostinga, came out in 2018. So here we are now some many years later with the band's sixth full length, Curse of the Mind. The band is now on Dusktone after many years on Indie Recordings. Also the line-up has gone through some changes. The studio duo of Aage Andre Krekling (drums / vocals) and Simon Larsen (vocals, guitars, bass and keyboards) is still in tact. Except now Krekling has given up drumming and is the main vocalist.
The band has added guitarist Ben Hansen who plays with em live. On bass there's Tobias Aubert and Isak Larsen has taken over on drums. Something else new is that Curse of the Mind is the band's first concept album. To me that's a shocker because I considered all of their albums to be based on concepts. Mainly the whole grim, frosty atmosphere of Norwegian heritage.
For years I've always considered ISKALD to be heirs of a Black Metal heritage from Norway that conveyed with a melodic tone the nature, history and inner feelings of the region. This new one is like a cold day in hell and it's all Norse inspired. The territory is called Helheim and it's more than a mythological place. It's actually a state of mind which ISKALD deliver in four blackened revelations.
Musically Krekling does a great job on vocals. The song structures are not as carried away as you would guess. I say that mainly because Simon Larsen has always been a great song writer. His riffs are icy and tremolo based with a hint of technical touches. Plus his use of keyboards is always in a subtle back ground manner.
All in all I like this release. It's good as well as a big chance for the band. Hey concept albums always are. Hopefully they go back to that run, previously from years ago, when it was cool album every few years.
LISTEN HERE:
https://dusktone.bandcamp.com/album/curse-of-the-mind
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