Isole

Bliss Of Solitude

Written by: PP on 05/03/2008 01:40:04

Many readers will know that I spend much of the year living in Southern UK. Last weekend, however, I happened to pay a long-weekend visit to Denmark, only to be welcomed by four days worth of monsoon-like rain from the grayest of gray clouds, toppled with near-hurricane strength winds blowing all the cold water in my face. Well, I thought, what better time to pop on some \'epic doom metal\', as the promotional sheet so aptly calls Sweden\'s Isole and their new record \"Bliss Of Solitude\".

My guess is that Isole have been experiencing something much, much worse than my self-described hurricane, at least if \"Bliss Of Solitude\" is anything to judge by. With titles like \"From Clouded Sky\" and \"Dying\" to \"Imprisoned In Sorrow\", Isole\'s music isn\'t for those who won\'t find something enjoyable in everlasting depression. The word epic is well placed here, because most of the album\'s arrangements are symphonic in nature, the riffs rumble across vast soundscapes, slowly progressing toward eternity in each of the six minute plus tracks on the album. The drums send out commanding pounds to echo around the vocals, which are rather unusual for a doom metal release. Don\'t expect growling like Ahab or Saturnus, as the whole album consists almost entirely of clean vocals. But contrary to common belief, the choice fits perfectly to Isole\'s sound, as Daniel and Christer\'s depressing singing adds a heavily melancholic overtone to the atmosphere. Sheer doomsday music this is, believe me.

Another curious aspect of \"Bliss Of Solitude\" is that it isn\'t particularly heavy. Usually releases in the genre tend to dwell in the lower and thicker range of the note spectrum, but many Isole songs build from simple acoustic picking into soft distortion, never to the point where they\'d crash from one side of your skull to the other in nightmarish ways for someone trying to survive a hangover. If you ask me, this makes \"Bliss Of Solitude\" especially enjoyable to listen to, because it allows the listener to drown himself slowly into the atmosphere, sucking every bit of the desolate harmonies in.

\"Bliss Of Solitude\" is a refreshing release in a genre where most bands have been repeating each other for many years now. In many places, the album shares commonalities with the symphonic progressive metal of Opeth\'s softer songs, and in others, it borrows from already established acts like Ahab and others. This alone makes it an essential doom metal release to own this year.

7

Download: By Blood, Imprisoned In Sorrow, From Clouded Sky
For the fans of: My Dying Bride, Candlemass, Ahab, Opeth
Listen: Myspace
Buy: iTunes

Release date 28.01.2008
Napalm Records
Provided by Target ApS

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