Scribed by Sandre the Giant
Isengard were always a fascinating project for me when I first got into black metal about 2006 or so. A solo project by one of the genre’s most important figures, mixing death metal, black metal, doom and some folk as well? Long finished by the time I first heard of it, Fenriz had obviously decided to concentrate on Darkthrone and Isengard lay fallow for decades. There was a brief reappearance in 2016 and 2020 with older recorded material being released, but their first real release was the demo compilation ‘Vinterskugge’ in 1994, where I first encountered them. 30 years on, is this still an essential piece of the black metal puzzle or merely an interesting curio?
Split into three chapters, the first seven tracks are part of ‘Vandreren’, the middle portion is their 1989 demo ‘Spectres of Gorgoroth’ and the last four tracks are ‘Horizon’. It sounds a little confusing, but it isn’t really as the whole record flows very much as a complete album rather than a disjointed demo compilation. When that title track hits up first, you can almost hear where latter Darkthrone tracks like ‘The Winds They Called The Dungeon Shaker’ come from, an oddly melodic and grandiose stomp through crusty, doomy black metal. This isn’t just a 90s black metal record though. You’ve got loads of variety hiding in here, from the instrumental dungeon synth of ‘In the Halls and Chambers of Stardust the Crystallic Heavens Open’, through the doomy folk metal of ‘Naglfar’ to the piping post punk grimness of ‘Storm of Evil’. Of course, there is plenty of grim frostbitten black metal too (see the virulent ‘Deathcult’), but this is much more than just more second wave black metal demos. ‘Vinterskugge’ has so much to offer as a snapshot in time as well as an oddly relevant work even 3 decades on.
Isengard seemed like a place where Fenriz could get some of his other musical influences out into the world without ‘sullying’ the black metal trveness of early Darkthrone. Ironic, considering how much Darkthrone of today has now swung round to resemble this record. ‘Vinterskugge’ may seem like a record that is more for the super fan or obscurity hunter than the more mainstream black metal audience, but as a snapshot of what inspires one of the genre’s most iconic and influential figures, Isengard are timeless, and their links to the modern Darkthrne sound are far deeper than just their shared member. This is the germination point for what Darkthrone would become in the 2000s and beyond.
The Killchain 