Review Summary: Finely made and with a sense of wonder.
Since 2011 and the acclaimed fifth album
Noregs Vaapen, Hoest has been in a phase of contemplation on where he stands musically and in relation to his main solo project
Taake. The albums that followed were all a bit dustier and a bit less hard hitting, indicating an overly more unrestricted, pliable compositional approach that focused on what the man behind the guitar is really like as a composer. During the process of establishing such a sound, rough edges, that manifested themselves in a way that made
Stridens hus and
Kong Vinter being a little bit all over the place, had to be smoothed out. This has now been partially achieved with the latest work of the band,
Et hav av avstand.
The newest album moves at the same wavelength as the aforementioned two, when it comes to its production and generally almost serene presence. Harsh guitars and shrieked vocals of course exist throughout the whole work, but Hoest aims for a calmer atmosphere instead of ferocious aggression that was the case for
Taake a long time ago. He takes his time unfolding his ideas through longer tracks this time, which allows for a lot of free and flexible song writing and would not surprise me if I learned that a lot of parts of
Et hav av avstand were jammed out or even improvised during the recording sessions. At the same time, harmonious balance exists from start to finish, making the album a grower, completely replayable, and with a lot of little local maxima here and there, especially in the form of wonderful short riffs above the more textured guitar work, such as towards the middle / end of “Utarmede gruver”.
Lyrically,
Et hav av avstand (written exclusively in Norwegian) gives a reflection of its creator through two main vessels: personal thoughts and the cold winter. When one thinks of Hoest’s great admiration towards bands like
Joy Division, it seems that such a thematic was only natural to come around eventually and definitely characterizes this eminently introspective record. Built on unconventional structures and
Taake’s own eccentric playing, the fans will really enjoy moments of the “Denne forblaaste ruin av en bro” as well as “Gid sprakk vi”, the latter being the shortest piece in
Et hav av avstand and as much in your face as the album goes, which isn’t a lot. I found all the tracks a little stretched out, having repetitiveness that was borderline on the negative, most clearly in the last track “Et Uhyre av en kniv”. However, in an overall great flow and steadfast delivery, this observation is so marginal that it might as well not float.
To say that I really miss the rampaging grandeur of
Hordalands Doedskvad (one of the best Norwegian black metal records of all time, and yes it tops the classics you are thinking of right now) is a boomer-like statement. With
Et hav av avstand,
Taake exhibit the clarity and focus that was missing from their releases of the last decade, which had scattered great moments. In its way, it holds a lot of emotion and contains a few remarkable moments, that may be some of the most gripping material Hoest has created in a while. I remained on hold for a possible punch to come out of this record but it never did, and that’s for this specific case, in its favor.
