This CD version contains 66 tracks - the first 9 tracks are followed by 57 tracks (5 sec each) of silence. "Die Isolation" is track 66, which are live recorded in the woods of Rivne region and represent a real-time-recording, along with background sounds of the open space and atmosphere of the natural acoustics. The release length is 1:06:46 with the additional tracks of silence.
"Despair portrayal of the souls that are lost in the winter woods. Hypnotic sound, like a thousand blades in a dance of winter blizzard leaving thousands of cuts digging into the body... Heart-rending screams of freezing flesh, summon the death, dissolving within echoes on the mountains... This album delivers cold, misanthropic and desolate mid-tempo Nordic-influenced Black Metal, along with melancholy Dark Ambient tracks. Crunchy distorted guitar minimalism, primal thrashing beats, and an overall raw necro-ish execution are well-supported by howling tortured grim vocals that recall the old Burzum era."
Die Isolation is an album that bases its entire theme, which I can see and hear, on negativity, isolation and depression. Whether you’re looking at the album cover, reading the lyrics or listening to the music there is nothing positive or happy that comes from this release. The intro track doesn’t give off signals of negativity, but the drone-like ambient keyboard can pull a listener in.
After the intro the next track explodes into the first song, Depressive Visionen eines sterbenden Horizonts. This song, like three other songs on this album, gives us screeching vocals of howling pain and desolation. As for the lyrics I had to translate them to English, and are very fitting for a depressive black metal album. While my translation was loose, and probably not too accurate, I understand the lyrics are very negative.
On each song the guitars on this album seem to have slightly slowed down a bit in comparison to previous albums, which seems to better fit the negative atmosphere of the album. The drums seem to have a wide and live rehearsal sound to them, but few, if any, random blast beats. There are guitar only instrumental break tracks after each song, which reflect the same guitar style as the songs themselves. The booklet has the lyrics to three of the four black metal songs, and reading the lyrics I feel this album gives off the tortured soul, rather than the 'I hate myself and I want to die' style of lyrics found in most depressive black metal.
While it seems like I am not very impressed with this release, I am. This release is a revision of the 2010 album Isolation der Essenz, but I must make the argument that this album feels more complete. Not because it has more songs, but it has an introduction and a conclusion that start and end the album properly, but also gives a minor rest after each song. For those who have not listened to this release, or its previous version, I highly recommend this album. The highlighted tracks that pulled me in were Depressive Visionen eines sterbenden Horizonts, Die letzten Strahlen der Sonne verblassen in der Kälte der Apathie, Nebelwald and Abgrund meines Wesenz. Some people may ask "what makes this album different from anything else?" While most negative albums have the same thing in common, I believe tortured lyrics and howling screams make this album different.
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
