‘Iskald – likblek – dröge!?!’ Well, not if we’re to believe the promo-sheet, according to which this record “combines the complexity of EMPEROR with the groove and rawness of IMMORTAL” (and hopefully the sales of DIMMU BORGIR one might add). Sorry guys, I know it’s getting harder and harder to sell records these days but such ridiculous exaggerations are not going to make things any better. ISKALD play some sort of Black Metal which – though terribly over-produced and suffering from a sound which totally kills even the slightest hint of atmosphere – can actually be quite entertaining, enjoyed as background music while having some (ice-cold) beer and going through your collection of animal-porn. But they’ll most certainly never reach the class of even the weakest hours (read “IX Equilibrium”) of the almighty EMPEROR. And concerning IMMORTAL: “Revelations Of Reckoning Day” for sure doesn’t hold a candle against “At The Heart Of Winter”, let alone “Pure Holocaust”. But if we’re ever treated to another album by Blashyrk’s finest, I’m afraid it’ll probably not be any better than what ISKALD have to offer. With the exception that it will feature Abbath’s unmistakable throat while ISKALD completely fail to impress in that department. If you’ve read carefully thus far you may ask yourself while this clueless fucker keeps on rambling about bands that are not even subject to this review, except for some marketing slut being stupid enough to mention them in the advertising. Too bad really, but ISKALD themselves simply don’t have anything to offer that would be worth writing about and ’round here we’re getting paid according to the number of words used. So next time someone tells you that you simply have to get this, along with a refrigerator to hide yourself into while listening to “crystal clear Back Metal from the land of the midnight sun”, don’t say that nobody warned you when you’re struggling in vain to get out of that goddamn fridge to turn that boring music off… www.indierec.no