Swedish doomers Isole have a penchant for the epic. The Gävle four-piece will issue Born From Shadows — their third album for Napalm Records following two earlier full-lengths on their countryman imprint I Hate Records — on Oct. 25 in North America and Oct. 28 in Europe. The album follows the strong progressive Eurodoom of 2009’s Silent Ruins (review here) and continues a prolific streak for Isole, who’ve now put out five albums in six years.

More important than the number of releases, though, is the fact that Isole have carved an identity for themselves in the course of that time. Guitarist/vocalists Christer Olsson and Daniel Bryntse began playing together under the name Forlorn in 1990, and the clarity of vision and maturity they’ve gleaned in the time since shows itself in these songs. They bring in a few of the epic/Viking elements they also explore as members of Ereb Altor, but it’s Isole‘s careful handling of melody that really makes their material stand out.

At nine and a half minutes, there’s plenty of room for it to do so on the title-cut of Born From Shadows, which the label was kind enough to let me host for streaming. In the song, you’ll also find some growls and screams and heavier influences at play, which give the track even more heft. Check it out on the player below, followed by some bio info from Napalm‘s website. Hope you dig:

[mp3player width=460 height=120 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=isole.xml]

Isole’s fifth release Born From Shadows is the continuation of a story that began in 2005 with Moonstone on the debut album “Forevermore” and then “Shadowstone” on Bliss of Solitude. On Born From Shadows the two stones symbolize two opposites that finally come together to become one: darkness meets light, death meets life, and good meets evil.

With their first releases, Isole was able to secure an excellent reputation within the doom metal underground. They have now elevated their status even further with their last two albums, Bliss of Solitude and Silent Ruins. Their current work, Born From Shadows, impressively maintains their well-earned position and lays any doubts as to their superiority to rest. The Swedish quartet understands more than any other band how to effectively merge hypnotic melodies with viscous guitar lines. Once again the album was recorded and mixed by Isole at Apocalypse and Gustavo Sazes (Arch Enemy, Firewind) provided his artistic know-how to convey a feeling of mysticism and darkness through his symbolic artwork, while Jens Bogren (Opeth, Katatonia, Enslaved) took on the mastering responsibilities. 

Tags: Gävle, Isole, Napalm Records, Sweden

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 11th, 2011 at 12:08 pm and is filed under audiObelisk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.