Review by Sonny for Taake - Kong vinter (2017)

A number of fans disliked previous album, 2014's Striden Hus, with it's more melodic take on black metal, but I really enjoyed it, it has some good hooks with plenty of energy and is a lively affair. This, however, is a different kettle of fish altogether. It moves even further away from the black metal of it's origins and delves in a more rock-oriented direction. In doing so, I feel it has been robbed of any vitality that the black metal parts may give it. There's an attempt at a more progressive direction in the vein of Enslaved's prog-black, but there isn't really enough to grab hold of here and, as a consequence the songs feel bloated and just kind of slide past without making any real impact on the listener.
All in all this is a great disappointment as I have a lot of respect for Taake and I have no issue with them trying a new direction, but there are many bands who pull off better what I think Hoest and co. are trying to achieve here. It's not awful, but it's not particularly good either and, consequently, I do feel it is Taake's worst release. For band completists only.