Orakel is actually not a new release. It is a re-mixed and re-mastered re-release of the band’s two EP’s Island (where the tracks are quite powerless and pale, despite the treatment) and Orakel put on one long player. Nice idea, because both releases match musically and one gets now an acceptably long running output.
Hailing from Bonn, Germany, ISLAND got founded back in 2003 and plays a blend of dark Death Metal with average growls and a certain progressive note that dares to reach out into fragile and even jazzy border areas.
The progressive and unobtrusive parts work out much better than the rage about the incorrect course of the world. Not that the Death Metal passages would be any bad, they are just too common and average, while the quieter parts leave much more impression. Opeth, as the big idols, is a tip on my tongue, but ISLAND are still quite away from this kind of well-balanced play and inner closeness of such voluminous sound cosmos. Finely chiseled acoustic moments as in the title track arbitrarily collocate with heavy parts (Journey Through The Jewel) and not necessarily result in a harmonious entity.
That ISLAND can do it better they prove with Ueber dem Thal, where the interplay between gentle and heavy moments succeeds much more.
All things considered, I would like to recommend this album. The thrilling moments outweigh the ones that can be neglected.
According to the info sheet ISLAND’s sophomore is already to expect this year and is described to be: „different, from a softer and mellower side“. If the good approach on Orakel gets developed, a masterpiece might await us.