Isengard  'Vinterskugge' Peaceville, 1994 Lord Pale: Isengard is the solo project folkmetal band of Darkthrone mastermind Fenriz. Vinterskugge features some album material (chapter one), some earlier demo material (chapter two), and some other rare tracks from various periods (chapter 3) making 16 tracks in total. Chapter one is more standard droning folk metal not dissimilar to Storm and occasionally Viking era Bathory but with a less polished more pagan atmosphere. Deep Viking styled vocals bellow over simple catchy riffs that make great drinking music. Interspersed between the folkish materials are some moments more akin to his main band Darkthrone in the form of grinding blackmetal dirges and a series of musicals, which just go off in their own direction. Chapter two is comprised mainly of thrashy death metal material, short little catchy pieces that suffer from poor production but that gives them alot of atmosphere in my books. With vocals varying between black rasps and death growls this material shares alot in common with the early Darkthrone demos but presents once again a more pagan feel. Chapter three varies from grim blackmetal (The Fog), to cheesy clean vocal folk melodies (Storm of Evil), to eerie keyboard musical pieces (Bergtrollets Gravferd), to the amusingly drunken vocal styled militant 'Our Lord Will Come' which is highly entertaining and good for clearing people out of the house who already hate metal. Overall Vinterskugge is a highly varied disc full of great tracks that you shouldn't get bored of in a hurry. Favourite Tracks - Vinterskugge, Dommedagssalme, Naglfar Mark - 8/10 Isengard  'Hostmorke' Moonfog, 1995 Lord Pale: Hostmorke is Isengard's second signed release and once again is comprised of both blackmetal and Folkmetal. This time however the majority of the album is folk inspired metal and the last two songs are blackmetal. Fenriz thus dedicates the Norse songs to Satyr (Satyricon) and the black songs to Frost (Satyricon) obviously he is happy on his new label and his label mates. The folk part is fairly straight-forward and similar to the folk material in chapter one of Vinterskugge only better. The blackmetal material has also been fine-tuned and sounds a bit more interesting than that of its predecessor. Guest growls and vocals are contributed by Aldrahn and Vicotnik of Dodhiemsgard who are also hailed by Fenriz in the insert. Another quality release of blackened pagan folkmetal, a genre that should be more thoughly explored in my opinion. Favourite Tracks - Neslepaks, I Kamp Med Kvitekrist, Thornspawn Chalice Mark - 8/10

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