I was late to the Istapp (‘icicle’) party, only discovering them on 2019’s stellar, The Insidious Star, but subsequently going back and listening to prior albums from the mid-10’s like Blekinge and Frostbiten. Honestly, though I had kind of forgotten about them, but 6 years after The Insidious Star a revamped Istapp is back.

There looks to have been some changes in the Istapp camp with only 2 members from that album still around, founder Flajar (drums) and Tizheruk (guitars/vocals). Three new folks have joined on bass, guitar, and vocals, but to be honest I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t done some research. Notably, new vocalist Gjallar (Skald), has a spot on Andreas Hedlund-styled Vintersorg/ Borknagar clean style similar to what Gangleri did on the prior album, maybe better, and that is still one of Istapp’s strong points.

Sól tér sortna (‘the sun turns black/dark’) continues the same frigid/icy (bundle up there’s gonna be a lot of wintery/cold references) melodic black metal formula that the band has perfected over three albums, but I have to admit, the formula is starting to sound a little familiar on some songs on this album, especially when I went back to revisit The Insidious Star. Case and point, the second track “Nifelheim” sounds an awful lot like “Eternal Winter”, but it is still soooooo good.

Gjallar immediately delivers the goods with the clean chorus of the opener “Under jökelisen” (It is also worth noting the band appears to have reverted back to all Swedish song titles and lyrics), then the aforementioned “Nifelheim” delivers Istapp’s classic, furiously frosty, melodic riffs in spades.

The next song, “Grýla” is a bit of an outlier, being a fairly generic mid-paced number, that’s not immediately identifiable as an Istapp song, with no clean vocals either.  Luckily, the next track “Storm av is” certainly is with delicate piano under Gjallar’s addictive chorus, and the crystalline mid-paced march.

“Frostdraken” returns to the more urgent, blasting pace of “Nifelheim” while the standout title track truly delivers Istapp’s signature frigid but fierce melodies perfectly. “Ragnarok” is another standout with a swaying, folky/Viking pace and yet another outstanding chorus from Gjallar.  The bouncy then bristling “Killbrand” and icy, windswept, but moodier “Vinterkrig” close the album out.

I’m not sure why Istapp released this album in March, as it’s far more fitting for the goddamn Ice-o-calypse the Midwest got in January. Ultimately though, the new lineup (especially the underused Gjallar) delivers the goods, even if I find myself preferring The Insidious Star a little more.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments