ISENMOR-Land Of The Setting Sun

Isenmor is a pretty strong band, very tight and skilled, talented and creative. Their introduction of the fiddle is very creative. Their CD "Land of the Setting Sun" is refreshing. It almost reminds me of Eluveitie. The fiddle parts are very creative and skillfully executed. The fiddle players are so talented that it makes me think why is this person not in Carnegie Hall or playing with some orchestra. Regardless I am glad that they decided to add the fiddle, however it does get a little annoying because it is overkill.

Production is clear, as all of the instruments are easily deciphered and the ratio of vocals to guitars, drums and fiddle is good with the only things poor are the bass drum and fiddle. The bass drum is drowned by the lower frequencies. The fiddle resonates throughout the CD and by the end you are might be tired of hearing a fiddle. Maybe, I too will come up with a band and have dueling bagpipes with double bass and call it a northern folk band.

The fiddle really stands out and is an ever present icon of this CD. Every song depicts the talent of the fiddlers, but this is like an American band that really wants to use a harmonica in every blues song, and it gets rather tiresome. Even Korpiklaani is creative and knows when to switch the sound, but here Isenmor overemphasizes the fiddle. Although the song "Pyre" really showcases this duel fiddle harmonies which was so nice to hear before the last song.

However, this song could have been the third song on the CD which really would have broke up the fiddle songs. This is really what to call this band, the fiddle band, and after 5 songs my ears were tired. The fiddle really could have been turned down both in volume and frequency of use, but overall this is a good band and good music. If you need your fix of folk metal, I can see you picking up this CD from the fiddle band, oops, I meant Isenmor. The vocals are pretty typical of what you would expect from a folk metal band, you know battles, drinking and adventure crossing various lands, you know your typical viking stuff that a hundred other bands are doing now. But i find it funny that a couple of guys from the America, that are probably 1/32 scandinavian and are calling themselves a viking band. But overall it is a good CD. You can listen to the CD over and over and not be bored. The riffs presented are blended with the aggressive guitars, duel vocals and duel fiddles, which makes for a good CD. I would actually get this CD because, it is able to keep my attention with all of the various harmonies and "Death is Fine Companion" is a great opening track to demonstrate their aggressive style but "Pyre" needs to be in the middle to break up the CD. The last thing that stands out after the fifth time listening to the CD is the ambience. The duel vocals and fiddle are nice and really blissfully harmonious. Yet there is not enough reverb to complete the sound and fill up the room. For the song "Pyre" the band might want to add a nice studio hall with a high frequency cut off and a 3 second decay. This probably would have served the point for either the vocals or the fiddles to bring some sort of ambience to the song. Yet I think that this CD is worth the money and definitely worth the listen through, and I look forward to their next release. I would give this a 3 out of 5 guitar picks.

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