At the very heart of the appeal of Metal music, for me, are those moments that cause an involuntary response. A slowly creaking grin; the invoking of horns / hammer / invisi oranges; the Jens Kidman gurn; the penguin neck; the exhalation. The response that, no matter the number of times that you have heard a track, still produces that endorphin rush and natural high. Access All Worlds (Metal Blade) is habitually punctuated and decorated by a series of them, and, the rollercoaster fan in me that welcomes that stomach drop is immensely grateful for that. 

Everything about Danish Progressive Power Death metallers Iotunn’s debut is proudly grandiose and larger than life, and in the very best of ways. A confident sixty-one minutes where every inch is assuredly filled, Access All Worlds manages to be expansive, melodic and still impressively powerful; the brothers Gräs weave a spectacular mix of tunefulness, Metal and majesty with their twin guitar interplay. Yet despite slathering melody and snares, they make sure that at its core Access All Worlds is still all about the heft… muscle is flexed, and riffs and sturdiness anchor proceedings, especially on ‘Laihem’s Golden Pits’ (the only track weighing in at under six minutes) which rampages in a way I want every new Dark Tranquillity album to sound like.

It is probably no surprise to the initiated that Jón Aldará of Hamferð fame lives up to the task, flawlessly delivering exactly the right type of vocal for each passage of music… harsher snarls and deathly barks segue into soaring cleans and delicious melodies that call to mind …In The Woods amongst others, anchoring these expansive passages with hooks and craft. 

‘Waves Below’ is a titan holding the centre of the album together – powered by aggressive shouts over meaty chugs, before a chorus straight out of the Borknagar playbook leads to guitars spiraling away and opening up the song into a progressive, yet heavy, metal masterpiece that builds to a frenzied blackened blast before ascending to one of those Aldará led pulses. Meanwhile, the fourteen-minute closer ‘Safe Across The Endless Night’ ensures it tags in every element of the Iotunn experience in a breath-taking, coruscating (I love you Quinny!) coda.

All this may sound intimidating, and there is a lot to take in as the senses do take a battering in line with Bjørn Wind Andersen’s buffeting drum attack, but the highs frequently inject those shots of glæde into the system and make it all worthwhile, as Iotunn has presented a spectacular first offering to the aural gods. 

Buy the album here https://iotunn.bandcamp.com/album/access-all-worlds

9 / 10

STEVE TOVEY