When I first heard Simen Hestnęs, the man behind ICS Vortex in
Arcturus's La Masquerade Infernale in 1997, I immediately thought I
wanted to hear more of that guy. And now we get a complete album where he's the
lead singer.
Now we get the chance of appreciating the effect of having him as a main
vocalist.On Storm Seeker, ICS Vortex has basically teamed up with
a constellation of Eastern Norway's most prominent metal musicians (from Spiral
Architects, Satyricon, Sarke...) that can make whatever he fancies sound good.
So we get some basic power-ish heavy-metal, some old-school black-metal ą la
early Ulver with Vortex's signature voice, some folk tunes, some well-known
riffs (find them yourselves) and more 80's sounding stuff, and even some 70's
prog groovy rock.
The whole is kind of interesting, full of pomp and will fill your room, but the
travels between genres are as wild and high floating as Vortex's voice, never
letting the listener a chance to get a proper grasp on the mood of the tracks.
Storm Seeker is nevertheless enjoyable to listen to a bunch of times. I
recommend you check this one out! Brand new website out by release date!
