Kinship by IOTUNN

This is my first blog-post here. It is a review of the last album I really fell for, an album I have not seen many people on the net write on, and an album which was released before 2026. This years albums, I do not really want to write about until in 2027.

I write sometimes very subjectively, take it for what it is. Or leave it. I focus on the music in it, not so much on the lyrics here. In total, I rate this album very high. I take it song by song.

Kinship Elegiac

It begins with a very careful and delicate monologue about some childhood before the song starts with all the instruments in a slow and mellow mood. It gets a good drive, growling in a following session. I enjoy both the clean song and the growling. A few keyboard-sounds is a good addition.

Then comes the retro electric guitar solos, and my heart really starts to melt. You can imagine the hair-dryer blowing in their hairs. And with a sigh, we fall back into mellow feeling from before. With a good drive. Great songwriting just heightens the feeling. Here is an passage of extasy. Personal lyric to relate to. Sad ending.

Mistland

Starts with a kind of buttery black metal feeling, but quickly it turns over to some other pompous thing. And a taste of finnish things like Amorphis or so. Mellow mood. Dreamlike and epic guitars like in the sky. One magic electric guitar-session. The two guitarists are really the stars of this band. It goes on with different parts, at times what you can call post-rock/metal guitars. One tone for a longer time and so on. Epic.

Twilight

Pompous beginning. A tale is being told with good-tempo metal. The tale increases to a whispering growling. A very nice riff in the background. Vocals increase to clean vocals. The riffs more driving. Sensitive song, feels pretty strong. Guitars evolving. It is really good. Growl gets going. Later we get to relax with more clean song.

So, as a whole it evolves back and forth, you could say in an organic way. With several sessions that feels good. Even double vocals, which is good.

I feel the night

Keyboard beginning, with carefully treading single guitar. Gentle song. An empathic song, as so often. Extasy-good guitars and songwriting immediately. 80s solo! Quickly back to a gentle session. And so on. A slower tempo. These guitar-parts you just do not want to be without.

The coming end

Short synth-sound-beginning. Faster tempo. Empathic song. The guitars. The guitars. The heights. Later some relaxing in groovy style. Building of part after part. One thing that I have thought about with this band is that the guitar-sound feels perfectly tuned. And the balance and mix between extreme metal and 80s metal is supreme.

Iridescent way

Gentle guitar-beginning. Here it feels like we hear early Metallica again. Or an homage. I can not remember now, exactly which part in a Metallica song that this reminds me of, feels pretty bad, but the nostalgia-feeling is strong. I love this. It just goes on!

Earth to sky

This goes pretty fast into this buttery norwegian black metal feeling, which pretty fast turns to more catchy metal. Back and forth. We have like a chorus-like thing yelled, very good for an audience to take part of. Then relax-mode and magic guitar. And the first time I clearly hear the bass. Session of unleash. A little rising guitars. Pretty much is happening in this pretty short song.

The anguished ethereal

Electric guitar-beginning, in a very good, epic atmosphere. Slow and bombastic. Growl and clean song. Good build-up. It is epic like in the stars that is in the text. Yes it is all very ethereal and among the stars. This is a long song, and a very worthy last song.