Iotunn - Kinship

Yess finally! Mistland was my favorite track of last year, and Access All Worlds one of my favorite albums of 2021. Hopes are high for this one

Good to see the band is making a return. Personally, I never got into the debut, but it'd be great to see if they've built off its weaknesses. Either way, I'm sure the fans will be very pleased.

If this comes anything close to Access All Worlds, then this could be album of the year! Lets gooooooo.......

I haven't even listened to this yet and I already think the person that gave this a 3 is abusing the voting system

I had the pleasure of spending some time with the record before its release for reviewing purposes, so my rating comes as a result of quite a few spins, and...
This is outstanding. Moving, both melancholic and vigorous, dynamic, captivating and drenched in mist.
Rendering the story more personal didn't make them lose what I call the 'cosmic elegance' of their debut. The guitarwork is outstanding, and Jón's vocals are once again out of this world. But what matters is that they were able to back up their technical prowess with soulful songwriting. Love them!

I just simply was blown away whit debut now I dont remember why I was, but listening this I get walk my memory lane .Good deaccent banger I enjoy it I like clean vocals. Only downfall album is dman long.

Awesome! Even better than their debut. Reminds me of old Opeth in a few places.

A lot of great albums coming out this year! Easily the best year of the 2020s.

So much improvement over the debut. Songwriting, atmosphere, dynamics, all of it. Really well done to these guys here, great stuff.

That first song especially is fantastic. It's so awesome to see the growth here.

Starts out fantastic but it just lose some steam after the first 3 songs.

Don't know how to feel about this yet, it deserves more spins, but it's definitely much better than Wintersun this year

So sad. I think I would love this album if I could stand to listen to it for more than five minutes at a time, but the production again is just a flat, hissy brick in the big moments, and my ears get fatigued.

Great band, though. If they can ever get a recording that isn't compressed to death, I'll probably never stop listening to it.

Finally, now I am complete. 10/10

Okay, there's no 9.5 so it's a 10 then. And if someone ever tells me that "metal is dead" or whatever, the closer of this album will be very very high on the list of songs I'd send to such a person.

I've been patiently waiting for this since I first heard Access All Worlds a few years ago. This did not disappoint. It's growing on me with each listen so far like the debut did. As of now, I still prefer the debut, but we'll see as time goes. I will say Earth to Sky and I Feel the Night are my personal favorites so far. Just incredible emotion in them.

Lots of Borknagar here, with some Windir-esque patterns of Melody that I appreciate. I’d rate it higher if I felt like it was a little more original, but it is very well executed and well worth a listen.

Written by nonZero on 25.10.2024 at 13:44

Awesome! Even better than their debut. Reminds me of old Opeth in a few places.

A lot of great albums coming out this year! Easily the best year of the 2020s.

Completely agree with you, I thought last year was pretty good, but 2024, it's even better.
Happy to see Blood Incantation album in the top 200 after 6 years without any new releases in the top.

Written by Tuonelan on 25.10.2024 at 18:30

So sad. I think I would love this album if I could stand to listen to it for more than five minutes at a time, but the production again is just a flat, hissy brick in the big moments, and my ears get fatigued.

So i'm not the only one then.. The sound is really annoying to my ears, kinda I want to like what I'm listening to but something holds it back.

Anyway, decent album, but I don't get the hype of this deserving a 10???? Maybe it's my ears.

This album is great, I find it much better than their debut which was no slouch either.

Mindblowing

Two albums in this year's top 20 are rated above 8.5, we are so back

It qualifies for Top 200 right now. Most likely won't make it, but so close

Amazing record, surely a top 10 contender in a lot of end-of-year lists

I personally feel that it is not as good as their first album, and it is a bit bland. This is just a copy of the same or even a little weaker.

Written by Crawltipede on 30.10.2024 at 05:10

I personally feel that it is not as good as their first album, and it is a bit bland. This is just a copy of the same or even a little weaker.

I agree, though reading the comments here, it seems we’re alone. It’s not the production that’s flat, but the songwriting. I feel none of the excitement that I experienced with the debut. Was there a lineup change?

Written by LeKiwi on 30.10.2024 at 12:39

Written by Crawltipede on 30.10.2024 at 05:10

I personally feel that it is not as good as their first album, and it is a bit bland. This is just a copy of the same or even a little weaker.

I agree, though reading the comments here, it seems we’re alone. It’s not the production that’s flat, but the songwriting. I feel none of the excitement that I experienced with the debut. Was there a lineup change?

The lineup seems to be the same. The songwriting is a bit bland compared to the previous album. Yes, I personally still hope to hear something new, but it seems there is nothing here.

This is the album of the year only for the first 3 songs. The rest are bonuses and we don't really deserve them.

I Feel The Night was the first single I heard from this and somehow it didn't click at all. After that I didn't expect much and when I finally listened the whole album it just went through and didn't really notice anything interesting until Earth To Sky when I really woke up. After that I started again from the beginning and in the end I began to love it. It's funny how sometimes you just have to find that one song that helps you get the others.

Earth to Sky!

Top 200 it is

Masterpiece! In the top 3 of 2024 for sure!