Review Summary: And now for something completely different…
Iskandr’s 2021 album
Vergezicht was a rock-solid effort, firmly situated in the atmospheric black metal style and not stretching any boundaries, but effortlessly competent and tastefully executed. With that in mind, I anticipated the Dutch group’s follow-up LP,
Spiritus Sylvestris, to be stylistically similar. Well, you know what they say about assumptions! Iskandr has flipped the script here, as their latest seven-song offering is only tenuously affiliated with any sort of metal, even if the guitar sound is still rather heavy. Instead, this record leans towards Gothic and post-punk textures, applied upon brooding longform compositions. If the grayscale mood does feel a bit one-note, the band has done us a favor by mixing things up throughout the forty-three minute album runtime, with the tracklist including two instrumentals (the title track and “Interlude”), a sprawling epic (“Hof Der Valken”), and an energetic closer built upon martial rhythms (“Nachtvorst”). All told, Iskandr’s latest isn’t anything like what I expected, but it’s a recommended listen nonetheless, with its gloomy spirit seemingly built for the dismal rainy days to come as the year winds down.
