Isengard is a solo project of

Fenriz Gylve Fenris Nagell (born Leif Nagell; 28 November 1971), known professionally as Fenriz, is a Norwegian musician, part-time music journalist and online radio host (with the show "Radio Fenriz")

, the drummer of

Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leadin ...

, created in 1989. It is rooted on Norwegian

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

Viking metal Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Viking metal is quite diverse as a musical style, to the point where some consider it more a cr ...

and

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

on some tracks, and named after the large fortress

Isengard In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings, Isengard () is a large fortress in Nan Curunír, the Wizard's Vale, in the western part of Middle-earth. In the fantasy world, the name of the fortress is described as a translation of Angrenost, a word ...

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

's ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

book series A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their pub ...

History

The person/creature in Isengard's logo was taken from an old ''Lord of the Rings'' RPG called

Middle-earth Role Playing ''Middle-earth Role Playing'' (MERP) is a 1984 role-playing game based on J. R. R. Tolkien ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' under license from Tolkien Enterprises. Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.) published the game until they lost th ...

. The original illustration represents Thuringwethil, the vampire from Tolkien's book ''

The Silmarillion ''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavriel ...

''. Fenriz created Isengard because he had many musical ideas that did not fit in with the style and music of Darkthrone. Fenriz performed all instruments and vocals himself. ''

Vinterskugge ''Vinterskugge'' is the first full-length release by the Norwegian black metal band Isengard. It is actually a combination of three demo tapes released between 1989 and 1993, which explains the difference in sound between the releases, with the e ...

'' is a compilation of three demos recorded before the full-length album ''

Høstmørke ''Høstmørke'' is the Norwegian black metal band Isengard's second album, released in 1995. The title means "autumn darkness" in Norwegian. Track listing # "Neslepaks" (When read backwards it becomes "Skapelsen" which means "The Creation") &nd ...

'' was recorded. When asked how he felt about Isengard in a November 2007 interview, Fenriz commented that he does not "understand why people like it so much". He stated that people like "the elements" which he doesn't like, namely the project's folk metal aspect. In 2016, Peaceville Records issued a two-song 7" entitled "Traditional Doom Cult". Its A-side, "The Light", was recorded in 1989 whereas the B-side "The Fright" was recorded in the early 1990s. A third Isengard album entitled "Vårjevndøgn" was released in October 2020, consisting of unreleased recordings from 1989 to 1993.

Discography

* ''Spectres over Gorgoroth'' (demo, 1989) * ''Horizons'' (demo, 1991) * ''Vandreren'' (demo, 1993) * ''

'' (compilation, 1994) * ''

'' (1995) * ''Traditional Doom Cult'' (2016) * ''Vårjevndøgn '' (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isengard Norwegian black metal musical groups Norwegian folk metal musical groups Music based on Middle-earth Musical groups established in 1989 1989 establishments in Norway Musical groups disestablished in 1995 1995 disestablishments in Norway Musical groups from Oslo Things named after Tolkien works