Review: ISENORDAL “Shores Of Mourning”

ISENORDAL “Shores Of Mourning”

With an interesting mix of black metal and doom, Isenordal brings forth their debut full length titled “Shores of Mourning”. Just listening to Isenordal you wouldn’t think that they hail from Seattle, Washington, but they certainly do and with this new release of theirs they bring forth six wonderfully crafted songs to the table. Not only does Isenordal mix doom and black metal together but they also bring forth a little bit of folk to create a wholly unique and fresh sound.

Each song on this record is incredibly unique and different and never do you hear the same exact sound twice. Isenordal does a great job of mixing their sound up all throughout this record keeping you guessing and keeping you listening. There is so much going on in this release from the shifting of genres, to the shifting of tempos, emotions and atmospheres that this release does warrant more than one single listen. Not only does “Shores of Mourning” warrant numerous listens because of that, but it warrants more listens because it is so wonderfully done and so well done that you end up getting sucked in no matter if its your first or fiftieth listen.

Isenordal really does do a great job of catching your attention and keeping it all throughout this release. “Shores of Mourning” is a record that pulls you in and captivates you with both its atmospheric beauty as well as its punishing and dark brand of blackened doom. One minute you will be getting a healthy dosing of melancholic atmosphere and the next you will be buffeted by plague wielding black metal and then forced to stare into the abyss with their crushing brand of doom. Isenordal is all over the place on this record but it never is chaotic or hard to follow. Even with all of the elements that they sew into their music they make everything work seamlessly to provide you with a cohesive and heavy listen.

Isenordal already provides you with plenty of atmosphere with the mixture of black and doom metal, but with the addition of orchestral music in the background as well as some acoustic elements, Isenordal takes that atmosphere that they already provide to a completely new level. The atmospheres that are provided are sweeping, captivating and filled with emotion that can be felt through each and every song. These atmospheres help progress each song as well as fill them with more variation and diversity than they already had. Not only that, but they are wonderfully mixed in with everything else to gift you a wondrous and unique listen.

“Shores of Mourning” is a unique and intriguing listen. Everything on this record is put together very well and executed very well also. The musicianship is great as are the vocals and production and with the addition of the wonderfully melancholic atmosphere you are provided with a great listen that just gets better with every spin.