Ifrinn: Ifrinn

Deliberate and mysterious, Ifrinn seeks to create a musical message powerful enough to communicate "Caledonian Black Magick" and to do so without being burdened with revealing the names of the musicians involved in the project. Identity, so it would appear, risks undermining the larger reflection on the darkness, on mystery, and on non-being. I'm reasonably intrigued by the idea of expressing something that resonates so closely with musicians that it can only be expressed through careful and protected deliberation. At the same time, I also want to be able to put on a CD and let the music guide my experience rather than the explanation for the music. I want to be careful about this because framing a listening experience is legitimate and can certainly lead to powerful insights. The listener may decide how to approach these matters.

The music on this album is pretty good. The opening ambient track was actually the best of the bunch. I also enjoyed "These Darkened Shrines," a long track that shows off the band's best songwriting abilities. The other tracks were good, but they rarely exceeded the bounds of black metal as performed by others. I'm not saying Ifrinn is repeating clichés—far from it. The music on this release comes across as sincere and personal in just the right ways. It's just that the broad promise of greater awareness, of an opportunity to contemplate the unknowable, seemed to need a sound that occasionally leaped beyond genre more explicitly. Recommended for fans of black metal, especially those who like music tinged with magick.

Track Listing:
1. Descent into Shining Labyrinths
2. Oracular Phantasms
3. Dweller Within the Gulf
4. Sulphurous Oscillations
5. These Darkened Shrines

Added: March 17th 2016
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 1570
Language: english

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