AN EISTNAFLUG REPORT: PART 2

 Concert Reviews  7 Responses »
Aug 262014
 


Sólstafir’s Addi Tryggvason with Skálmöld at Eistnaflug

 

(Gemma Alexander is a Seattle-based writer and NCS fan who visited Iceland in the fall of 2012 during the Iceland Airwaves festival and was generous enough to send us interviews with such bands as Angist, Beneath, Kontinuum, Sólstafir, Gone Postal, and Skálmöld. In July of this year she returned to Iceland for the Eistnaflug metal and rock festival (“Eistnaflug” being Icelandic for “flying testicles”), and we are once again the beneficiary of her writing. Today we present Part 2 of a three-part report on the festival, illustrated with Gemma’s own photos. Visit her own excellent blog here and check out more of her reporting on the festival at KEXP’s web site. Part 1 of her report for us is here.)

 

The second day of Eistnaflug began at noon with sets from Pink Street Boys and Oni. I, on the other hand, began less ambitiously, arriving at the venue after 2 p.m. I don’t know anything about the first band, but was sorry to have missed the sludgy, Neskaupstaður-based Oni.

http://oniiceland.bandcamp.com/releases

 

The first band I saw on Friday was In the Company of Men. Billed as mathcore, the effect was individuals doing their own thing in the company of others. But they each went to eleven with it, and maybe my math isn’t very good.

https://www.facebook.com/InTheCompanyOfMen/timeline

 

I had heard that Morð (“murder” in Icelandic) was divisive in the local black metal community. In the event, I couldn’t really see what was so unorthodox. Was their corpse paint all wrong, or was it a slight tendency to slip into groove? Whether tr00 or transgressive, Morð put on a good show.

http://morth.bandcamp.com/ Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: SKELETONWITCH, CHTHONIC, SAKTMÓÐIGUR, AND HATSUNE MIKU

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Oct 292013
 

In this post we bring you three globe-spanning videos that premiered either yesterday or today, with our performers hailing from the exotic locales of Ohio, Taiwan, Iceland, and Japan.

SKELETONWITCH

The lyrics to the title track from Serpents Unleashed tell you a lot about what you hear in the song: “Demonic, defiant, eyes of burning chaos / With darkness at our side / Evil at our command / Crush the weak and feeble, their place within the dust / Rain fire from the shadows / Striking hard and fast / Vomiting the blackest hate / The spawn of wickedness…”

The new video for the song strikes hard and fast, too. Rapidly strobing between shots as the band deliver the goods, the film makes effective use of light and shadow, slo-mo interludes, and split-screen views. Check it out next: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SEPULTURA, GYRE, UNKIND, SAKTMÓÐIGUR, DUNKELNACHT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Jul 192013
 

The last few days brought many new discoveries that I thought were worth sharing. However, I haven’t had the chance until now because I’ve been dealing with the fallout caused by some asshole who smashed in a window on my car on a downtown Seattle street and stole a bag that contained my laptop and other valuables. Fuck that guy, and fuck me for being dumb enough to leave the bag in the car. Enough with the whining, onward with the metal . . .

SEPULTURA

This morning brought further news about the next album by Brazilian heavyweights Sepultura. Its title was inspired by Fritz Lang’s classic 1927 film Metropolis: The Mediator Between the Head and Hands Must Be the Heart. It was recorded by Ross Robinson, who also produced the band’s equally classic Roots album, and in an effort to cement the connection to past glories guitarist Andreas Kisser had this to say:

“The album is brutal, fast and straight to the point, I feel this is the best SEPULTURA ever, no bullshit. To work with Ross Robinson again was a privilege, one of the best producers out there. He has a strong connection with nature, the human heart, with life in general. We did an album that is alive, no fake studio tricks, we were jamming together in the room exploding in an energy so strong you could grab it.”

Of course, we wouldn’t expect him to say, “the new album is going to be a mediocre rehash and one of the lamest things ever to be released under the Sepultura name”, even if it were true. Yet the fact that he’s stuck his neck out there with this kind of a statement provides some reason to be hopeful. The album is due in October. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: SAKTMÓÐIGUR – “DEMETRA ER DÁIN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Free Shit  7 Responses »
Jul 092013
 

Word of mouth is still a good way to find new music, especially when the word comes from Iceland’s Sólstafir. They wrote something in Icelandic on their Facebook wall a few days ago about a band named Saktmóðigur who are scheduled to perform at the Eistnaflug festival this summer, and provided a link to a song. Figuring that it would take less time to listen to the song than to grapple with Google Translate’s mutant efforts to render Icelandic into English, I listened.

The song turned out to be one of three on a free digital EP released by Saktmóðigur last month. The EP’s name is Demetra er dáin, which means “Demetra has died”. I got that from a posting by the band, not Google Translate. I also read that Saktmóðigur are based in Reykjavík and were formed in 1991 (!). Their first release was the tape cassette Legill in 1992, followed by two 10″ vinyl EPs in 1993 and 1996. They’ve also released three full-length CDs, Ég á mér líf (1995), Plata (1998), and most recently Guð hann myndi gráta (2011).

The EP grabbed me by the throat, but I have to tell you that it’s off the beaten path at this site. The music is more punk than metal, and the vocals aren’t the usual bestial growls or acidic shrieks that tend to rip through most of the music I write about. I also really wanted to sing along with these three tracks, if only I had a phonetic guide to the Icelandic lyrics. But none of that means the music is pretty or sweet. Continue reading »