Review by Jack on June 11, 2001.

Alas, all things in time must come to an end. When I first purchased this CD from Borknagar, I was horrified to find that firstly when putting it in the CD player, that the running time was a shade under thirty-eight minutes, not something you’d expect from Borknagar, when listening to "The Olden Domain" and their self-titled epic, both which run a shade under three-quarters of an hour.

Borknagar, with this album, have done away with Garm (Arcturus and Ulver), as their lead singer, and replaced him with ICS Vortex (who did some work with Arcturus). Vortex’s vocals whom many of you would be familiar with Dimmu Borgir are of a rather ‘different’ nature than the standard thoroughfare black metal nature. Lyrics are concerned with a more universal theme, than their last album, which was more dependent on nature. Lyric topics are similar, to Vintersorg’s latest effort, "Cosmic Genesis", and have strong universal and grandiose lineage. The music departs somewhat surprisingly from a black nature, to perhaps, (dare I say) progressive element surrounding parts of "The Archaic Course". The pace of this album is toned down, and a more gentle listen on the ears.

Oystein G. Brun brilliantly writes music for Borknagar, and is a real asset for the band, with such solid songs, it is really hard to see Borknagar going astray in the future. This CD is a wildcard in the band’s discography yet it does contain some extremely well played and composed songs. "Universal" and "Ad Noctum" are two of the band’s finest musical moments, the latter using a Hammond organ in the structure of the piece, and giving a decisively retro feel about it.

Bottom Line: If your willingly to depart from the traditional sounding black metal packs of musicians in the world, give this CD a spin, if not, steer well clear as this CD may well poison your mind. Vortex adds a new dimension, and Borknagar walks down a different path as a result. An interesting future ahead.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Brexaul on April 25, 2021.

2021 has been quite consistent with quality releases, that I hope I can soon find the time to review them all! Iotunn was a late addition but cut the line and won its rightful place at the top of my review pile, and for good reason. The album is a mixture of space themed death-prog metal (yeah, it’s crazy) with a larger-than-life approach to everything, but we have seen similar grandiose ideas failing miserably in the past, so the obvious question is, do they manage to deliver the goods?

Hell YES. A thousand times yes. Iotunn manage to hit dead center at almost everything with this album, their song structures, their approach to melody, the traditional death metal outbursts all accompanied by a fantastic, cosmic atmosphere throughout. Bonus points for the fantastic cover that sets the mood. It is overall very impressive since Access All Words is not an easy album to get your teeth in, but the payoff is great if you invest the time. On my first few plays, I really enjoyed the second half much more than the full album, but after a while everything clicked.

Jón Aldará sounds absolutely fantastic, diverse and gives a performance of a lifetime here, since his versatility beautifully adds to the eerie atmosphere of each individual song. There is no shortage of death metal growls, clean, well-tuned vocals as well as some occasional black metal shrieks, but it all works out great. The guitars are also shining bright, with multiple dual melodies and excellent solos, always emotional and on point. The rhythm section is tight, with the bass lines diverse enough to keep things interesting, while the drumming is another highlight of technical mastery and musicality. All the songs are extremely diverse and the band sounds surprisingly coherent even if they jump from a death metal onslaught to a space rock soft passage.

So, any flaws then? Well, one could argue that the band might have benefited more with a little trim to some of the songs as all of them are 6+ minutes, but the album is weird anyway and needs a fair amount of time investment to let it get in the way. The production is a bit too compressed and while it’s not a deal breaker, I would love to hear the sound closer to -what I imagine- was intended to sound like, thus my 4 point deficit.

It is way too early to speak about the album of the year, but Iotunn easily moved to the top of the list so far. Excellent album.

Worthy tracks to check: Most of the songs are good indicators, but I'd go with 'Waves Below'.

Rating: 9.6 out of 10