ILLNATH - Second Skin Of Harlequin

Illnath - Second Skin Of Harlequin

8 songs
38:27 minutes
***** *
Deathlight

Bandpage

Danish melodic black metal band Illnath weren’t especially lucky with their second full-length album Second Skin Of Harlequin, which was lying around for two years until they were finally released from their contract with their old label who just didn’t do anything for the band. Having signed now to the Spanish label Deathlight, we can only hope that things will turn out for the better.

The new (or old?) album comes with an interesting cover artwork, and lyrically Illnath show themselves also from a more educated side than most other metal bands. Or how many metal bands can you name that have written songs dedicated to Jorge Luis Borges, the father of Argentinean fantastic literature? From a musical point of view, Illnath try hard but can’t set themselves free from the usual clichés. At times the keyboarder adds some interesting parts, and a few acoustic guitar moments also help to create some atmosphere, but most of the time, it’s the usual melodic black metal fare that is certainly well meant, but due to a slightly muddy production, they will not be able to achieve the same grandeur as the two popular bands that are always mentioned as a comparison.

Vocalist Narrenschiff (now that’s an interesting pseudonym) outs himself as a very intelligent and original person on his Myspace site, and it can only be hoped that he lets some of that innovative character flow into future recordings of Illnath, to prove that they can be more than just an averagely good black metal band.

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