Band: Istapp
Title: Blekinge
Label: Metal Blade Records
Distribution: Rough Trade
Release date: 04/06/2010
Review: CD

Swedish trio Istapp do sound, as a matter of fact, very Swedish, yet with lots of Norwegian elements. The band’s melodic Black Metal has a Nordic sound and ditto musical approach, including the (evident) epic and acoustic elements.

Blekinge, named after the city the band members hail from (at the Baltic sea), lasts for thirty eight minutes and consists of ten heroic pieces. The tempo varies a lot, and so do the melodies. The songs contain fast and slower parts, harmony choirs, some acoustic intermezzos, melodious guitar riffing and solos, an enormously heavy rhythm section and an icy atmosphere. The sound is rather rough and unpolished and that’s just fine, because it gives the whole a natural, down-earthed approach.

Most parts aren’t that renewing, on the contrary, yet a few times the band surprises with original elements. And the ‘predictable’ parts, well, who minds? If performed with grandeur, it is accepted, isn’t it? Voila… For fans of Rimfrost, Borknagar, Midvinter, Enslaved, In Battle or Thyrfing.

85/100

Ivan Tibos.