Band: Isengard
Album: Høstmørke
Genre: Black metal / Folk black
Country: Norway
Label: Moonfog Productions
Released: July 3rd, 1995
Introduction
Isengard is one of Fenriz’ many musical endevours; this one appears to be his main solo project and was formed in 1989 fusing doom, black and folk metal. The bands name is taken from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and this theme can be found in some of the releases.
Høstmørke
Tracklist:
- Neslepaks
- Landet Og Havet
- I Kamp Med Kvitekrist
- I Ei Gran Borti Nordre Aasen
- Over De Syngende Ode Moer
- Thornspawn Chalice
- Total Death
Høstmørke is the full length debut, preceeded by the 1989 demo Spectre over Gorgoroth and the compilation Vinterskugge in 1994. This album is built on a foundation of strong melodies, making it a much more “chant along while hiking in the forest” feel than what one could expect from the Darkthrone founder. The album starts of with the track Neslepaks which is a smart play on words and theme of the christian belief of “skapelsen” or “the creation”, when some old geezer with a beard supposedly decided to create our universe.
Neslepaks lyrics takes a hold of the destruction of the universe as opposed to it’s creation. The song has cleaner vocals, where Fenriz goes from somewhat yelling to plain speaking the lyrics. It makes for a authentic atmosphere almost abit medieval style, I get the same feeling as when I listen to Havukruunu. There is something reminding me of home and a touch of romanticing our nature in the vocal style.
And on the 8th day he devoured all water
And on the 9th day he spoiled all food
And on the 10th day he burned the earth
And on the 11th day he beat people and animals to death
And on the 12th day he choked out the realm of heaven
And on the 13th day he covered the sun
And then there were no more daysNeslepaks lyrics
Landet og Havet is an interlude that follows Neslepaks and it’s a small 1 minute folk song with Fenriz singing an old lullaby paying homage to Norway; a beautiful piece that adds to the medieval vibe that I feel and to the Norwegian patriotism.
I Kamp Med Kvitekrist quickly brings us back into the realm of norwegian black metal. This is one of my favourite tracks of the album due to it’s raw grit and poignant lyrics. Easy to scream along to when fully indulged in Fenriz’s enchanting tune. The riffs are simple and catchy, with the old big gritty sound. The drums are somewhat drowned by the guitar work and Fenriz’s vocals are towering over it all. The vocals are definently the tower of Isengard in this work and is what I enjoy the most about this album.
Some lyrics in both Norwegian and translated to English. Photo: Jørn Steen
Alle skal vi leva, i vår sterke kamp
Og i horisonten som naglfar farer fram
Alle skal dei drepast, som flokker seg om ham
Alle skal vi leva, i vår sterke kamp
I kamp med kvitekrist
Alle, må dei døy
We shall all live, in our strong fight
And on the horizon as the father of nails advances
They shall all be killed, who gather around him
We shall all live, in our strong fight
In the fight with the white Christ
All, they must die
I Ei Gran Borti Norde Asen and Over De Syngende Ode Moer both carry on the very folky sounding structure with synthesizers and chanty vocals dominating over the gnawing guitar riffs. There’s just something I really enjoy about the chanting style in Ei Gran… based on very traditional Norwegian fiddler melodies. I sit and hum and chant along with Fenriz everytime I hear this track, to great amusement to my family. The riffs here are doomy, drawn out and heavy.
The last two tracks of the album are somewhat misfitsin terms of fitting in with the preceeding four tracks This is when Fenriz apparently puts on his corpsepaint and goes all out black metal, dropping the folk elements completely. I enjoy these tracks less than the rest of the album because of this, and I almost wish they were put on another release.
With that being said these tracks are by themselves very solid. Thornspawn Chalice is groovy and nasty sounding where Fenriz brings out the best of his gnarly vocals. Total Death has more the black thrash/punky sound ringing with quite rapid speed metal vocals; all in all a fun listening.
On metal archives there is a small piece of information that says that the black metal songs on this are dedicated to Frost (Satyricon) and the folk/nordic songs are dedicated to Satyr (Satyricon).
Conclusion
The folk elements, great lyrics and Fenriz’s clean chanty vocals is what makes this album special to me and is why it’s one of the albums I constantly comes back to. A timeless piece, and turning 30 years old at the time of writing.
Give this album a spin to celebrate, regardless if you have listened to it before or not!
BMZ rating: 9 out of 10
Support Isengard here: https://peaceville.bandcamp.com/album/h-stm-rke
Your thoghts on Høstmørke
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