Ildjarn – Forest Poetry (1996)
Ildjarn is definitely off the beaten path a bit more than most of the Norwegian artists that found their muse in black metal throughout the 90s. After listening to a few tracks on Forest Poetry, it is easy to hear why. At first, Ildjarn’s super lo-fi sound is a welcomed distorted blast to the face, but soon loses its impact as the record goes on. As a fan of black metal as well as stuff like grindcore and gorenoise, I’m often told the stuff I listen to all sounds the same. But here, truly, it’s really hard to distinguish between any of the tracks at all, and being as long as it is, this starts to grate on my patience: which is a shame because out of the gate Ildjarn’s sound is so immediately satisfying.