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Krieg has been one of those bands well known in the underground Black Metal scene for quite some time. The group has issued five full-lengths, some demos, and a slew of split releases with other lesser known Black Metal acts over the years. The Isolationist marks the group's sixth full-length effort, but is really the first one to appear on a more established label for worldwide distribution. The problem here, however, is whether or not Krieg's material is good enough for them to take this small step out of the underground, and with The Isolationist, the answer seems to stem right in the middle. There's no denying the group has the ability to create some heavy, angry Black Metal, as this has been proven time and again over the years through their releases. With this release, the band seems to put their best foot forward, and in many ways it's a great thing. The material here sometimes comes off a bit experimental. "All Paths to God" happens to be one of these tracks, and features some eery keyboards through the song that would best be described as an early seventies or eighties synth effect tacked onto a theme for a horror-based television show such as Tales From the Darkside, and it works very well to make the song stand out amongst the rest and create a harsh, unique atmosphere that sometimes can feel unrelenting. Another moment worth mentioning is around half way through the track "Depakote", which seems to come out of nowhere. The song just comes to a traditional end, and then a few moments later you are greeted with a very trippy, psychadelic sound that one would expect to see in some kind of stoner film after a character gets high, which suits the title of the song in the first place. This lasts for a good while and just seems rather out of place until the song kicks back in with a roar, only to end up comming to a slow crawl to close it out. Despite some of the more stand out tracks like those, there's nothing all that impressive about the album, but at the same time there's nothing that wrong with it. Much of The Isolationist is straight forward Black Metal that, at times, seems to dabble a bit into a more droning kind of musical structure, as plointed out above. The drumming winds up being one of the more important aspects of the release, as sometimes it is very well paced and executed just right to help that hint of droning in the recording. Take "Inhalation Decays", which actually comes off as a pretty standard track with nothing all too important about it. However, there are some odd moments in the music that hit which causes the music to stay more into what could be described as an attempt to hynotize the listener through the way the drumming offsets the guitars slightly. This appears in many other songs as well, but it mostly boils down to whether it works out for the song or not. This idea works out in the long run thanks to it's somewhat raw recording quality and heavily echoed back of the throat howls that bring a commanding performance forward. This style, however, doesn't appear as often during the closing song "Dead Windows". You can hear this type of drumming during some of the bridges in the song, mostly half way through, especially when it just starts picking up pace from it's already rather fast state. If you. This song is also one of the more generic tracks on the album, but thanks to this drumming here and there, this song actually becomes the most important to the release and pretty much shows what the band was attempting to do right from the start of the album. Other then that, much of the release is pretty straight forward and features some solid songs, but not all of them wind up being too enjoyable. ""No Future" sets up the album, and has a bit of a long winded audio clip to kick it off. While the clip doesn't really do much to help the album out, it's a well chosen possession-based horror clip that works for what it is and, in the end, is just something entertaining, regardless of how useful it is. But, the song itself is not all that enjoyable. "No Future" winds up sounding just like a traditional Black Metal song that just keeps hammering away at the listener for an extended duration. The drumming on here keeps up with the song, but there's just nothing all too fantastic about it, and even the guitars are pretty simple in design and don't hold anything too unique to grab the listener. Even "Photographs from an Asylum" is a little lackluster, but the song itself has some more intensity in it to keep things interesting. The Isolationist doesn't actually pick up until "All Paths to God", and when it does the music continues to evolve, but of course there are still times it can feel dragging. "...and ge Stars Fell On" is a decent, slow paced track, and it does it's job of setting that aforementioned slight droning sound to the music, but ultimately the song feels drawn out and could have been saved by cutting back an extra minute, especially when the distortion near the end of the song kicks in and just doesn't let up. Why it goes on for so long is confusing, as this effect does make a nice touch to close the album out on, but due to it's length it just quickly becomes repetitive and highly annoying. The next track, "Remission", is yet another instrumental like "Religion III" and one could argue it was held out so that it would seem as if that effect were bleeding into that song, but it simply doesn't work with it in the long run, and doesn't even fit with the atmospheric music brought into the song. While this isn't the most stand out Black Metal release available, it's definitely an important one for Krieg.. The Isolationist is an entertaining album that, unfortunately, does suffer from some set backs as far as not-so-unique material goes. Luckily, it's not as prodominant, and the band's more droning drum mechanics works to create an album that often has the strength to hypnotize the listener. If your a fan, then chances are this release will be no surprise and a werlcome addition to the discography, but if you're new, perhaps it's time to check this band out. |
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