REVIEWS

Disappearing into Null Dimensions

Published on 02/12/2020 in BLOG/REVIEWS by Stína Satanía

Releasing on 5 December 2020, Null Dimensions, by the five-piece Icelandic stoner doom metal Morpholith, takes a sonic journey through the cosmos, celestial bodies and darkness. The EP incorporates classic elements of the genre in a coherent way within its two expanded tracks. When it comes to creating an atmosphere and crafting well-developed compositions, Morpholith is on point. The album’s consistent sound builds tension brick by brick to shape a massive wall of amplifiers. This band has more amplifiers than musicians! Despite its heaviness, surprisingly, the EP manages not to smash the listener’s eardrums. In the past five years since Morpholith’s formation, the band has grown in confidence. Their debut release in April 2016, Void Emission, was followed by live performances that propelled the band’s success beyond the local scene. Morpholith has already made appearances away from their tiny, dark island. It is worth mentioning that they won the international…

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Ásgeir – Bury The Moon

Published on 18/03/2020 in BLOG/REVIEWS by Stína Satanía

I thought my head was going to explode with the very first bone-crushing, thick, distorted, nine-string guitar riff, immediately followed by one of the most bloodcurdling metal growls ever heard, so brutal I thought a demon would… Wait, that’s not right. Oh! Ásgeir! Right! Sorry. Ásgeir’s newest release, Bury the Moon, is a modern electronic/acoustic classic, overlapping with imagination, sou and soundscapes and immersed in the nature sounds of Iceland, his home country. I was already looking forward to this album after hearing his early, solid singles, such as ‘Pictures’; the nature-infused, lyrical, storytelling ‘Youth’ (which is accompanied by a great music video); and the thick bass, imagination-tickling ‘Lazy Giants’. I found myself pleasantly surprised with the entire work! After digging into the songs between the singles, I found that Ásgeir had created a well-constructed and powerful work of art. It took no time at all to find the great…

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Storm warning: Hurricane KARÍTAS is here

Published on 10/03/2020 in BLOG/REVIEWS by Stína Satanía

Last year, I fled dark and stormy Iceland and travelled to a nicer climate on the other side of the globe for the winter. However, for some unexplainable reasons, even while enjoying the sun on my balcony, I still get homesick! My cure for that horrid feeling: a five-track album called Songs 4 Crying, released in late 2019 by a relatively unknown artist. Her name is KARÍTAS. The feeling starts creeping up on you from the very start, during the shadowy vocal echoes of the intro. By leaning into the melancholic hopelessness of the dark and gloomy Icelandic winter, I find the remedy for my homesickness. After a second listen, the singer’s references to the other songs on the album become noticeable, and all the admirable work that went into the debut EP of KARÍTAS is apparent. Having such a developed and unique sound on your very first release is…

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Blóðmör – Líkþorn

Published on 12/01/2020 in BLOG/REVIEWS by Stína Satanía

Winning Músíktilraunir has served as the launching point for a number of outstanding performers. Mammút (2004), Agent Fresco (2008), Vök (2013) and a little folk ensemble you may have heard of called Of Monsters and Men (2010) are all prior winners who have gone on to give us some brilliant music. In 2019, it was a young metal trio that took top honours and found itself poised on the precipice of success. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for the coming of Blóðmör. In June 2019, Blóðmör released their EP entitled Líkþorn, marking a return to metal’s roots. This EP consists of five songs of raw metal ore mined from deep within the earth, unrefined and unpolished, yet full of limitless promise. The riffs forced me to dust off my air guitar because you can’t sit still whilst listening to Líkþorn and these riffs beg to be imitated. The music demands…

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Thought Spun of Myrra Rós

Published on 06/01/2020 in BLOG/REVIEWS by Stína Satanía

The music of Icelandic singer-songwriter Myrra Rós calls for a proper deep listening while you are sinking into a comfortable armchair in front of a fireplace. Her soft voice has followed me for more than the last eight years and each time, her album reveals further atmospherical soundscapes. Establishing herself in the international market, the artist actually plays more often in European countries than in Iceland. As Myrra’s latest record was released in January 2019, the next opportunity to hear live those brand new seven soothing songs is getting closer. Pursuing her solo career, Myrra Rós creates cohesive albums, and Thought Spun spreads a hypnotic atmosphere. No wonder that with her previous involvement in post-rock bands as Andvari and VAR, enigmatic soundscapes are what she is deft at. The album opens with ‘Red thread’, quite a dark and simple intro which points out the emotionally-rich path of lyrics that delve…

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Rauður – Semilunar

Published on 06/01/2020 in BLOG/REVIEWS by Stína Satanía

Semilunar is a very conscious solo debut of Rauður, an artist present on the Icelandic scene for many years. The album is filled with Scandinavian melancholy, coherent but not lacking in experimental trips. It displays a rich diversity of emotions, and although it sounds dreamy and gentle (most of it), it radiates with great power, awesome in vocals, composition and timbre. It premiered on the 11th of October. Rauður (Icelandic for ‘red’ or ‘ginger’) is a stage alias of Auður Viðarsdóttir. The artist lived until recently in a little town in southern Sweden. There, in her domestic studio, she worked on compositions that eventually came together into a whole album. The pieces, composed through the last few years, were recorded in various places throughout Sweden and in Iceland, where she lives at the moment, at the Dungeon Studio in Reykjavik, where Auður returned this year. Auður recalls starting up her…

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Love (lust and greed) in the time of Great Grief

Published on 30/12/2019 in BLOG/REVIEWS by Stína Satanía

Words by Stína Satanía There are albums that smack you straight in the face. It felt like that the first time I listened to Love, Lust and Greed by Icelandic hardcore quartet Great Grief. They have been out there since 2013 and are one of those bands that, despite touring all over Iceland, might deliver it even better abroad than in their own backyard. Since they have spread their energy across the Atlantic, it should come as no surprise that the band dropped their long-awaited debut album on 7 December 2018 under the banner of Los Angeles based No Sleep Records. The album starts off at high speed and goes full throttle with emotion. This is what Great Grief have become known for in the local music scene. They deliver intense, profound live performances that translate into impassioned albums that almost push them over the top. The band touches on…

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Lucy In Blue – In Flight

Published on 10/12/2019 in BLOG/REVIEWS by Stína Satanía

Words by Andreas Schiffmann With regard to Lucy In Blue, you find yourself once again seeing practically all the confirmed stereotypes that accompany contemporary music from Iceland but in a good way. The group’s current album sounds far removed from the world (otherworldly in the truest sense of the word) with its chill overall aesthetics that seem to be aimed at the ever-growing audience for what is generally–and vaguely–called ‘post-rock’. By now, while one struggles to pinpoint what this term actually means, it’s safe to say that it encompasses a certain aloofness or distance, which is also palpable on In Flight. The band’s primary trademarks might be the androgynous lead vocals and often downright grandiose organ arrangements. In contrast, however, the band writes in a relatively straightforward way, resulting in songs which rarely surpass the five-minute mark. After the aptly named introduction ‘Alight, Pt. 1’, a rather tranquil take-off for…

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Paint it bold – Ahoy Side A by Svavar Knútur

Published on 23/09/2019 in REVIEWS by Stína Satanía

Words by Stína Satanía What defines the Icelandic music scene, in my opinion, is community. With his wonderful recent album – 2018’s Ahoy Side A – gifted local legend Svavar Knútur has proven that the greatest strength of a project lies in the musical friendship that grows around it. Although he is known for his acoustic and intimate song-writing, built around ukulele and guitar, and his soft voice, Svavar Knútur has explored a more band-oriented soundscape this time. Several years ago, he was performing at Aldrei Fór Ég Suður festival in West Fjords, and I was watching the broadcast from 4,000 km away. He needed only his warm, resounding vocals and a ukulele. So, I dare say that Iceland has no better entertainer and storyteller than Mr Knútur. He has been an important voice on the local scene, which has built up from his skyrocketing band, Hraun, in the 2000s,…

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When Old Becomes New Again: The Vintage Caravan

Published on 24/08/2019 in REVIEWS by Stína Satanía

Words by Eric van Reem Many new bands from across the world seem to have discovered their parents’ – or perhaps even their grandparents’ – record collections! It is no coincidence that the revival of vinyl in recent years has resulted in a revival of rock bands from the late sixties and early seventies that played psychedelic blues rock. Isn’t it great that young musicians are rummaging through old record collections and uncovering and listening to the music of bands like Cream, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin or King Crimson? Right now, bands throughout the world seem to be gaining inspiration from the seventies. Kadavar from Germany, Blues Pills and Graveyard from Sweden, Birth of Joy from the Netherlands and the Rival Sons from the USA, to name a few, have listened carefully to those old records. In this maze of bands and music going retro, Iceland is represented by The…

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