Formerly known as THULE, after their foundation in 1993 by the Norwegian multi-instrumentalist, Hoest, the main figure behind the stark motivations of this Bergen Natives, TAAKE is a Black Metal oriented band with shades of ambient and doom, along with some very resilient and horror themed atmosphere for this, their seventh full-length album. The bands rebirth as TAAKE two years after its original foundation, was spawned by its creator (whose name itself means autumn) to use the word fog in Norwegian to make its musical creation known throughout the world, both as a reflection of the spirit of his lyrics and musical compositions and as a patriotic tribute to the fog surrounding the seven mountains in his native town in Norway. After a brief incarceration in the years two thousand and six by still undisclosed reasons, Hoest made it back into the scene with a self-titled album in the year two thousand and eight and has kept his work constant, lugubrious and mind imposing.

Playing this record in the middle of the night surrounded by an intense storm front may not be the best idea, but once the feeling of self-assurance of remembering how those guys in Norway made it first, I mean combining Satan worshipping with time in prison for mysterious reasons, when it wasn't murder or church burning, and still having time to rehearse and produce records, I was left with a record to brief to be enjoyed in its entirety. The production is remarkable, even within black metal standards, and the feeling of never have been able to witness the interpretation of this songs live can only be compared with frustration.

Combining a completely original ensemble for each tour accompanying each new release, after Hoest does the whole record almost on his own, to obtain complete creative control, this seventh full length album by TAAKE will stand as a witness of how Black Metal can now be included into the gross domestic product index as well as one of the main touristic attractions of Norway for the manner of how it has stayed on the epitome of what an antithesis of rebelliousness and otherness of a land that refuses to turn its back on it historical roots must be. A vast frozen forest awaits you, so iced that you won't feel the hand of the grim reaper once it comes to harvest your lifeless body in the middle of nowhere. Black Metal at its finest right in the brink of the third decade of the twenty first century.