Sólstafir
Promo 2004
(self-financed) 

When one of my Ásatrú-esque buddies entrusted me to write a review of the latest Sólstafir release, it struck me (with some consternation) that fair Iceland is an entirely unknown region to me as far as metal music is concerned. Travel catalogues and charter holidays be damned – as so often before, a mental tour of the world begins right there on the home stereo… Due to this aforementioned regional ignorance of mine, I was of course unfamiliar with the earlier material of this four-man outfit, but after a few audio-sample hors d’oeuvres at the official Sólstafir website, it has become all too obvious to me that the songwriting on this their recent demo offering, all so very nondescriptly entitled Promo 2004, should be evaluated entirely on its own premises, as the artistic formula is one that flirts with the impromptu and self-innovative. Furthermore, since there are no more than three tracks to assess and draw distinctions between, let us try our hands on a track-by-track review of the substance through and through, gruelling word counts aside.

“I Myself the Visionary Head” // A little more than three minutes into this marathon-like epos, after a somewhat NWOBHM-inspired overture plus a few belligerent verse structures, the band submerge into an almost 14-minute trance-inducing interlude that comes across as a mixture between In The Woods… and Neurosis. Somehow it borders on ‘aesthetic overkill’ to have a deconstructive mid-section of such colossal magnitude constitute close to 75 % of an entire song. Yet, each time I find myself reluctant to skip ahead, which has to indicate that it works juuust fine. Blame it on this incense-thick listening environment!

“Bloodsoaked Velvet” // Laden with heaviness but not at all devoid of atmosphere thanks to a constant emotive feel, this is the most metal-oriented and to these analytic ears the least attractive musical disposition revealed on this otherwise rather admirable demo offering. For some, on the face of it, odd reason there are a few bits and pieces in the artistic framework that remind me of Mastodon in their more artless and less technical moods, even if an unmistakable trace of thrash metal is what typifies and endows this specific composition with a quite discrete energetic trait. Trivia addicts should note the blatant rip-off of the opening riff on “Chemical Warfare” slightly after the 3.30 mark, after which our four capricious Icelanders dive into all-out heavy metal cloud nine with a headbang-inciting riff pattern – not at all ill-timed, mate.

“Ritual of Fire” (Instrumental Version) // Yet another track whose structural nucleus is built on a web of acoustic-ambient abstractions: from a relaxative build-up with a plaintive lead guitar juxtaposed against a simple clean-note melodic line, Sólstafir weave in and out of a near-minimal leitmotif with stunning effect. As it follows there is a non-instrumental version of this evocative finale in existence, but I very much appreciate the incentive to have made this enthralling vocal-stripped version available to the masses. *ruffles dust-filled pages scrawled over with various sensitive remarks in metrical verse* ‘Hypnotic and dynamic at one fell swoop, this track is for that tranquil time after the sunlight hours when there is not much left to do but unwind and wait for the first faint waves of sleepiness to set in.’ Ah, so there…

As regards a music-stylistic resume, Sólstafir describe their artistic endeavours as ‘atmospheric epic metal with a bit of psychedelia’ in an interview on their website, and that is certainly a concise thumbnail sketch of an exactness that it would be inane of me to try and better. Potential listeners should bear in mind that this four-man ensemble are far from conservative or inclined to abide by this or that prescribed rock/metal formula, and thus I could well imagine it would take some individuals a few spins of this +30-minute promo release to acclimatise to the idea of a once-svartmetallic outfit that shift from fast skank-beat sections to ‘off the cuff-reminiscent’ intermissions and further into out-and-out psychedelic ambience.

Sólstafir reveal a sharpwitted sense of songwriting with this overall well-boding promo release, as well as a watertight musicality that remains in subtle balance despite the wealth of instrumental intricacies, and even the bass lines hold a central momentum in the manifest soundscape of the recording. To cut things short… Or at least bring this dreadful torrent of tiresome analysis to an apposite conclusion: Present as well as future Sólstafir releases should be able to attract music listeners who (most of all) savour the quieter humours of Isis and Cult Of Luna, while fans of In The Woods… would do well to wallow in the moodier, transcendental pieces on this three-song release, and be lenient towards the more metal-oriented elements that are far from cliché-ridden or indiscreet. All three of these excellent tracks can be downloaded for free at www.solstafir.com; so why the hell not have a taste of something as refreshing and exotic as an Icelandic metal outfit?

MISEREION

Soulreaper
Liferazer
(Karmageddon) 

Many bemoaned the inevitable demise of Dissection when it was revealed that founder and main songwriter Jon Nödtveidt had went into a fatal dagger-happy mood back in the summer of 1997, and nearly as many took Soulreaper’s debut album Written in Blood for a continuation of the musical epoch that he initiated in the early 90s. And who could really blame them? Essentially, Soulreaper was formed by two of Nödtveidt’s erstwhile cohorts, drummer Tobias Kellgren and guitarist Johan Norman, while the album held more than a few leftovers for what was scheduled to become the third Dissection opus. Why, even the moniker of the band was openly snatched from the title of the closing track on Dissection’s magnum opus Storm of the Light’s Bane. Today, on the other hand, no one should be absolved for writing Liferazer, Soulreaper’s sophomore full-length record, off as a mere tasteless carry-over of songwriting material from the Dissection era. Hammerheart #2 a.k.a. Karmageddon, in all their charitable excellence, have obliged to fund a re-release of Liferazer on the basis of the claim that its artistic value was foiled by the wondrous surface-only transformation of the label. This second advent of the album comes with a few consumer-persuasive bonus tracks, specifically the pretty kick-ass and still listenable rendition of Morbid Angel’s “Fall from Grace” (also available on the first-issue digipack version) plus two virtually superfluous demo cuts from the “Son of the Dead” single from 2002. To cut a long story short: Liferazer is a rock-solid and well-executed heavyweight slab of US-inspired death metal with scattered colourations of thrash and black metal, not entirely unlike Grief Of Emerald’s most recent output Christian Termination – but maybe just a tad better. For the shopaholic metal fan that tenaciously sets aside money for a ‘monthly Gothenburger’, Soulreaper would nine times out of ten be the better alternative.

MISEREION