At the time of writing, the weather conditions in my little part of England are horrendous. Ice, snow, frost, the evils of falling over in the street and the sky darkening early; the only explanation is that there’s a worldwide conspiracy to send us the freezing weather so everywhere else is sunny and fun. What better music is there in these circumstances than Norwegian Black Metal? Specifically, Norwegian Black Metal that follows in Immortal’s footprints and adds a hefty dose of melody a la Wintersun? Revelations Of Reckoning Day is undoubtedly Metal of the Black variety; blastbeats are frequent, vocals are Abbathian, and guitars are ice-tipped winds straight from the north. Yet whilst many a band would trip up by being either too Black or too melodic, Iskald (‘ice-cold’) have it balanced perfectly.

From the epic nine-minute blast of Warriors Of The Northern Twilight pt II, which is imbued with just the right amount of melancholy, to the classical interlude Endtime, the quality’s apparent. This album has something often lacking in the Black Metal world – class, a real sense that it’s better than the rest, and songs as catchy and headbangable as The Orphanage would suggest that it’s right. Both guitars and drums (two member band, one on drums/vocals, and the other for everything else) are little short of flawless, the riffs and blasts enveloping you from the beginning. Thrashy moments such as in Det Stilner Til Storm help to develop the band and elevate them from being a mere Immortal cover band, whilst it’s the melodic sections that means that fans of Wintersun will find solace here whilst they wait for Time to finally emerge. Closing track Dommedag especially will be of interest there.

There’s not a great deal more that can be said. Part of why I wanted to write about Metal is, as mentioned elsewhere in this week’s update, to share discoveries made in the great genre, and Iskald are certainly worth sharing. Revelations Of Reckoning Day doesn’t step too far away from the source (sort-of Folky acoustic moments here and there are the only real divergences) and this isn’t as epic and breathtaking as it could have been, but otherwise this is a solid, enjoyable album.