Comparing oneself with older Ulver, Enslaved and Windir in the CD information means pressuring to match the high expectations at the same time. Disappointment already courses through pretty early. That is to say the promo debut of the Italians starts with a quite bumpy intro. Sloppily recorded, it gives the creeps. But not, as it thrills someone or something new is presented, but because the timing of the doubled acoustic guitar leaves a lot to be desired. One can expect to keep stroke in such an easy riff.
That’s by far not innovative what HOMSELVAREG come up with. Influences of Ulver’s Bergtatt delicacy shimmer through nearly everywhere, except for the use of clean vocals. You are confronted with monotone and slumberous blasts instead. You don’t find anything that knocks you off your feet even though you search with a loupe. The band tries too much to play safe. But they backfire clearly, because HOMSELVAREG miss inspiration and ambition where bands like Mörker compensate for the lack of originality with lots of joy of playing and atmosphere.
But I don’t want to be that strict with my rating, because considering the fact, that Homselvareg initially was a self-release and has solely been re-mastered for this promo edition, the production is fine by me. But here, too, applies: a bit more risk-taking to play with sounds would have breathed considerably more life to the monotone compositions.
The album itself features eight songs. It is enhanced with three bonus tracks of the demo ages of the Italians, which logically are of a lesser sound quality compared to the regular tracks, but thus sound a bit more charming at least.