When I first heard the work of In Slaughter Natives I was blown away by its power and intensity. Meanwhile ISN has got other contenders to their throne, like Wappenbund, Karjalan Sissit or Sophia, with a comparable bombastic orchestral sound. Nevertheless J. Havukainen is confident enough to give his new album “Resurrection” the undertitle ‘The return of a king’.
This also refers to the fact that the last real ISN album (Purgate My Stain) was released back in 1996. Meanwhile only the compilation “Recollection” and the 5cd box “Re-Enter Salvation”, which contained three new tracks, came out to still our hunger. Nowadays the surprise of hearing this new material is perhaps not so great anymore. “Resurrection” is more or less what you can expect from In Slaughter Natives. A dark inferno, with growling vocals, pounding percussion, classical sounds, ritual chants and a sacred atmosphere. Somewhere between dark ambient, oldschool industrial, ritual and neoclassical.
As I already heard at a recent concert, the sound may have become a little more restrained. This is not to say that ISN does any compromises, “Resurrection” certainly sounds very intense and dark, perhaps even satanic and demonic. The most powerful track is ‘As my shield’, with a ruthless marching rhythm, crushing everything at its path. But this album does not trust on sheer power only, there seems to be more room for subtle classical sounds and choirs, on tracks like ‘Your Breed’ and ‘The Vulture’. My favourite piece is the highy atmospheric ‘Blood testural’, which really gets me in its spell. As a bonus the cd also contains a videoclip of ‘Clean cathedral’ (a great song from “Purgate My Stain”), with nasty images to enhance your uncomfortable feeling.
This album gives the impression to be constructed very carefully, by someone who knows what he’s doing. An impressive album with an oppressive apocalyptic atmosphere. An excellent come-back!
