I always loved Vortex’s vocals in Borknagar, and thought that his talents were under utilized during his time in Dimmu Borgir.  It goes without saying that the idea of a solo album to showcase his vocals was an attractive one to me.   The addition of drummer Asgeir Mickelson to the line up only heightened my anticipation for the album.  Still, there were lingering questions in the back of my mind about how well Vortex‘s clean vocals would hold up over the course of an entire album.

Storm Seeker gets off to a good start with “The Blackmobile” and “Odin’s Tree.”  Both of these tracks are well executed, up-tempo progressive metal songs that hint ever so slightly at Vortex’s time in Borknagar.  If the whole album had been on par with these two songs, it would have been a solid, if unremarkable release.  Unfortunately, songs like “Skoal!” and “Aces” come off as a bit goofy, with Vortex struggling to fit his vocals into places where they don’t seem to belong.  As a whole, things just started to blur together by the middle of the album.  I found this odd, since the songs are actually pretty diverse.  I came to the conclusion that Vortex’s voice is like a rich decedent food, something that is delicious in small doses, but likely to make a person ill if mass quantities are consumed.  I tested this theory by listening to the album in smaller chunks, and I did find that most of the songs were fairly interesting when taken two or three at a time.  There were still some strange moments, and things that didn’t quite work, but in the end I found that the majority of the album was at the very least interesting.

Storm Seeker is a difficult album to put a grade on.  You have to respect the fact that Vortex played almost all of the instruments himself, and his willingness to push his limits as a vocalist admirable.  At the same time, I don’t feel that the music accents his strengths as a vocalist often enough, and a good album really shouldn’t be this difficult to sit through.  In the end, Storm Seeker is an interesting ride; a mixed bag of good, bad and ugly that left me scratching my head as often banging it.  This isn’t an album that I will go out of my way to listen to again, but I am glad that I sat down and spent some time with it.  Fans of the man’s previous work should at least sample the album, as there is plenty of good music here.

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  The Blackmobile
2.  Odin's Tree
3.  Skoal!
4.  Dogsmacked
5.  Aces
6.  Windward
7.  When Shuffled Off
8.  Oil In Water
9.  Storm Seeker
10.  Flaskeskipper
11.  The Sub Mariner

Total playing time:  44:55

Release Date: August 19th, 2011
Label: Century Media Records

ICS Vortex - Storm Seeker

Reviewer: Garett

February 16, 2012