Icelandic post metallers Sólstafir win award for 'Rock Album of the Year' at Icelandic Music Awards20/4/2021  Icelandic post metal band Sólstafir have won the award for 'Best Rock Album of 2020' at the Icelandic Music Awards with their latest album 'Endless Twilight of Codependent Love'. The Icelandic Music Awards (Íslensku Tónlistarverðlaunin) can be seen as the Icelandic version of the Grammys. Find more information here. 'Endless Twilight of Codependent Love' was released in November 2020. Listen to the album here or order a copy in the Season of Mist shop.
A quarter of a century after singer / guitarist Aðalbjörn "Addi" Tryggvason co-founded atmospheric Icelandic metal quartet Sólstafir, they continue to follow their cardinal rule – that there are no rules. For them, writing an epic 10-minute song without a traditional verse/chorus trade-off feels natural. While they have done two albums in English, he mainly sings in their native tongue and his vocals are as much an instrument as a vessel for words. Their videos equally showcase the band and their Icelandic world that they commune with. And their music flows however it pleases. “Having been a metal band for a long time and gone through shoegaze, atmospheric black metal, and post rock, I just feel privileged being able to mix all my favourite genres and get away with it,” says Tryggvason. In the world of Sólstafir, artists as varied as The Beatles, Kraftwerk, Darkthrone, Ennio Morricone, and Billy Corgan swirl inside their heads, and such influences seep into their musical ether. Funnily enough, the cover for the group’s latest album Endless Twilight of Codependent Love might remind one of a famous Smashing Pumpkins album cover. Painted in watercolour by Johann Baptist Zwecker in 1864, The Lady of the Mountain is the female personification of Iceland. It was first published in a book of Icelandic folk tales but was never shown in public. A black and white woodblock replica by the artist is what Icelanders have known until recently when two citizens found the original hidden in a Welsh museum gallery where it had been in storage for a century. Now it is back home and adorning the cover of the new Sólstafir album. “Everybody knows the image of the Lady of the Mountain,” declares Tryggvason. "All of a sudden, the original pops up and it’s like, ‘Oh my god, these are the most beautiful colors I've ever seen. And why does it remind me of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness?’ So that's purely accidental. When we saw this photo, we had to use it. It's too beautiful.” While early Sólstafir lyrics delved into Nordic mythology and critiques of organized religion, more recent songs explore their spiritual connection with nature, and lately, mental disorders ranging from depression to alcoholism and the taboo behind men in particular discussing those things for fear of being perceived weak. “That’s the real darkness that you can't see, but you can feel it and people around you can feel it,” explains Tryggvason. “Of course, there are serial killers and plagues and whatever through history. But in modern day life, that's the true darkness around you. People kill themselves every day, and often people close to you who have been feeling so bad.” He says the most personal song on Endless Twilight of Codependent Love is “Her Fall From Grace,” the lone track in English. It chronicles the pain of watching a loved one succumb to mental illness. “It's very sad when you love someone and you see them get sick,” muses Tryggvason. “Like Layne Staley said, ‘Slow suicide is no way to go.’ But you’re just watching on the audience bench, preparing for the phone call. ‘Hey man, Johnny's dead.’ ‘All right, I knew Johnny was gonna die. I've been watching him in slow motion.’” He likens the experience to seeing a relative or parent be consumed by Alzheimer’s and turn into a different person than one remembers. Although the band’s lyrics are predominately in Icelandic, that does not prevent outside listeners from appreciating the emotional power of their music. It has been said that many fans can feel his pain even if they do not overtly understand what he is singing about. A beautiful moment in that regard occurred when Sólstafir played Bogota, Colombia in September 2017. It was the smallest show on their South American tour, and they presumed it would not be as lively. The 300 strong throng proved them wrong. “It felt like I was in Queen at Wembley Stadium,” Tryggvason recollects fondly. “They sang every goddamn word in Icelandic. How can you explain that?” Such passionate reactions have not gone unnoticed in their homeland. Iceland picked Sólstafir to play a total of six events New York City, Seattle, and Toronto last fall called “Taste Of Iceland.” Tryggvason says the band enjoyed the event and their intimate industry showcases at Pianos (NYC) and Livenation (Toronto) during that same trip. Counter-intuitive thinking has helped Sólstafir evolve and mature. The new track “Or” opens with a languid, bluesy feeling but gradually transforms into an angst-ridden, guitar-driven dirge. When they conjured their breakthrough song “Fjara” in 2011, the group feared its mellow nature might put off their longtime metal followers. Instead, they embraced it. That tune, along with the ambient, banjo-laden track “Ótta,” allowed the group to play both the Brutal Assault festival in the Czech Republic five years ago and then a family-friendly music event in the Netherlands the next weekend. The new rager “Dionysus” even features a return to their black metal roots that was not planned; the song just turned out that way over a year-long span. “Our audience grew bigger and more diverse by us just being ourselves and doing nothing different really,” notes Tryggvason. One of the joys for him and his bandmates – bassist Svavar "Svabbi" Austmann, guitarist Sæþór Maríus "Pjúddi" Sæþórsson, and newer drummer Hallgrímur Jón "Grimsi" Hallgrímsson, who contributed some lyrics this time out – is that their perception of how their new music will turn out never corresponds with reality. It is that unknown factor that keeps things exciting. “You can never foresee band magic,” declares Tryggvason. “The whole purpose of this is cooking up magic. And if you're cooking up magic with four or five weirdos, you can never foresee what's going to happen. You can't buy that. You have to live it or grow it.” Recording line-up: Aðalbjörn Tryggvason - Vocals, uitar Sæþór M Sæþórsson - Guitar Svavar Austmann - Bass Hallgrímur Bárðdal - Drums www.solstafir.net www.facebook.com/solstafirice https://www.instagram.com/solstafir_official
0 Comments
 Czech post-doom metallers Indrid Cold have signed with Sliptrick Records. The band formed during the fall of 2015 from ex members of the band Born Again. All the members of Indrid Cold were active in various other bands from the local metal and punk scene. The band’s name comes from the movie The Mothman Prophecies, based on the 1975 book of the same name. In the first years of their existence, the band recorded several singles and played many successful concerts in the Czech Republic. At the end of 2019, the original singer left the band and so 2020 was a new beginning for Indrid Cold. With new found force, the band continues in a four-member line-up and wrote songs for their debut album Monument Prázdnoty. In autumn of 2020, Monument Prázdnoty was recorded and produced by the band and masterd by Cult Of Lunas’s Magnus Lindberg at Redmount Studios in Stockholm. The album will be released worldwide via Sliptrick Records. Indrid Cold are:
Band links:  Hailing from Turkey, post metal outift Bipolar Architecture are glad to announce the signing of a deal with Wormholedeath for the release of their full-length album "The Criticizer", date TBA. On the 5th of December, 2020 they will release their first single "Dystopia Is The Reality", taken from the above mentioned upcoming album. Bipolar Architecture was founded by Sarp Keski (vocals / guitars), Enes Akovalı (bass) and Burak Altıparmak (lead guitars). Then with the joining of Ata Çetin (drums), the line-up was completed in early 2020. Bipolar Architecture are located in both Berlin (Germany) and Istanbul (Turkey). Their debut 3-song EP "The Tragic Protagonist" was self released in May, 2020 on digital platforms such as Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music. The sound consists of various genres blended harmoniously; such as post-rock, melodic black / death metal, djent and metalcore, with atmospheric lead guitars and groovy drums combining with screaming and growling vocals. We call it post-metal. BIPOLAR ARCHITECTURE are:
South African Post Metallers Constellatia to re-release 'The Language Of Limbs' via Season Of Mist6/5/2020  South African post metal band Constellatia are announcing the re-release of their acclaimed debut album 'The Language of Limbs' on various physical formats. The new pressings will be out on June 19 and are available for pre-ordering HERE. 'The Language of Limbs' was originally released on November 15, 2019 and soon after, the four piece landed a worldwide record deal with Season of Mist. The album can already be found on all digital streaming platforms HERE. Consttellatia comments:- "We hope everyone is keeping safe during these unprecedented times. We are making the most of our interrupted lives by working on record number two. Today, we are thrilled to announce that pre-orders for the Season of Mist pressing of our debut album are now live, as well as a slew of new t-shirts (all designed by Rouleaux van der Merwe)." The cover artwork of 'The Language of Limbs' can be found below, together with the track list.
Hailing from Cape Town, South Africa, Constellatia is the collaborative vision of Gideon Lamprecht and Keenan Oakes, founders of well-known acts Crow Black Sky and Wildernessking respectively. 'The Language of Limbs' is essentially a post-metal record with black metal and progressive influences, and a healthy dose of ambience and atmosphere; always deeply engaging with a flair for the romantic and nostalgic. "It is a record that came from a place of desperation; a musical outlet for the years of hardship both members endured in their personal lives." Gideon Lamprecht comments. "It's an album about obsession and overcoming. It's a triumphant record." adds Keenan Oakes. Formed in September 2018, and enlisting the talents of a few key collaborators, Constellatia soon completed work on the beautiful and emotional ride that is 'The Language of Limbs'. While the drums (Played by Lawrence Jaeger) and vocals were engineered by Daniel Thackwray at City Varsity, Cape Town, all other instruments were recorded by Lamprecht at his home studio in Glencairn, where he also mixed and mastered 'The Language of Limbs'. The album features additional and high class guest vocalists, namely Alison Rachel of Honeymoan and renowned singer/songwriter Lucy Kruger, and is an absolute must-have for fans of Cult Of Luna, Opeth, Pink Floyd or Wolves In The Throne Room. Follow CONSTELLATIA on Facebook and Instagram. Line-up: Adam Hill - Rhythm guitar Gideon Lamprecht - Lead guitar Keenan Oakes - Bass, vocals Lawrence Jaeger - Drums Pre-order: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/ConstellatiaLimbs  Bucharest, Romania based Post Black Metal act Váthos present their fresh debut album, Underwater, just released via Loud Rage Music and now available for streaming and orders here: https://loudragemusic.bandcamp.com/album/vathos-underwater The 8 tracks material to be featured on Underwater was recorded at Studio148 (https://www.facebook.com/148studio) with Marius Costache. The band have recently released a new video taken off Underwater, The Suicide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYnVV9tXPYg  Váthos started in the fall of 2017, based in Bucharest. The evolution period of their style with elements from atmospheric post black, melodic death metal with a diverse influence of sub-genres from the extreme side of music, resulting in a mixture of melody and aggression as they start to define their own sound in such a short time span. Music which caches the listener's attention in the underground scene following by two years of concerns under their belt, in Romania. Contacts: Váthos Loud Rage Music  Bucharest, Romania based Post Black Metal quintet Váthos present their new lyric video for the track Hold My Breath, an extract from their upcoming debut album, Underwater:- https://youtu.be/tYjbl__0MH0 Underwater is scheduled to be released on April 11th via Loud Rage Music and is now available for streaming and pre-orders here: https://loudragemusic.bandcamp.com/album/vathos-underwater The 8 tracks material to be featured on Underwater was recorded at Studio148 (https://www.facebook.com/148studio) with Marius Costache.
 Italian Post-Black / Post Metallers Deadly Carnage, after a long period of reserve, break the silence and reveal details on the workmanship of their new concept album; Adres (bass) explains all:- “We have spent a long time keeping a total secret about what we were doing, but now the time has come to remove the veil and tell you something. For about 20 months we have been working on a new album, as for "Through The Void, Above The Suns", this new work will also be a concept album. Maybe it is not yet the time to tell you what this concept will deal with, but know that we spent a lot of time learning about extremely fascinating topics to be able to undertake the work on the lyrics of this new album and we are very satisfied with what we have created so far. We have six songs ready and we are collaborating with a visual artist to create the artwork that we have in mind; we still have a lot of work ahead of us, but one thing is certain; as always we will do exactly what we want! Soon we will give new details.” This new work will be the successor of "Through The Void, Above The Suns" and fifth album for the band. https://deadlycarnage.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/DeadlyCarnage/ https://www.instagram.com/deadlycarnageband/ https://www.youtube.com/user/Adres1989/videos https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Smmabcnt0gxJ3PnXAFq1L  Eindhoven post-metal unit, An Evening With Knives, has finished the work on their hotly anticipated, sophomore album. Following the successful releases of their debut album Serrated and the Fade Out EP, March 6th 2020 will finally see the band return with their brand new, full-length studio album, titled Sense of Gravity, via Argonauta Records and Lighttown Fidelity. Today An Evening With Knives are not only sharing the album artwork and tracklist, but also a first single to the blistering track Endless Night! Get your ears on it and stream the song right HERE!
Once again recorded at The Void studio by Pieter Kloos (Dool, Monomyth, The Devil's Blood, Motorpsycho), the trio delivers the same intense, layered sound that the band has showcased in the past; yet taken to a whole new level! The band states:- “The songs on the new album just came out perfectly. Our producer Pieter Kloos really captured the raw and powerful atmospheric vibe An Evening With Knives is known for. We didn't dare to dream of a sound this huge and we can't wait to present our newborn to the world!” Set for a release on March 6th 2020 with a grand show at the Effenaar in their home town Eindhoven, The Netherlands, Sense of Gravity will be available on both vinyl via Lighttown Fidelity and as CD and Digital formats on Argonauta Records. Watch out more news and tunes from An Evening With Knives to follow soon! For More Info Visit: www.facebook.com/aneveningwithknives www.aneveningwithknives.com www.argonautarecords.com  Season of Mist are pleased to announce the signing of South African post metal band Constellatia. The band's debut album 'The Language of Limbs' will be re-released on physical formats later on in 2020. The album can already be heard on all digital streaming platforms HERE. Regarding the signing, the band comments:- "We are extremely thrilled and proud to sign with Season of Mist. As big fans of the label, we are humbled and privileged to be in the company of so many great artists who we respect and admire. Thank you to Michael and the team for believing in us, and we look forward to sharing many records with you. Thank you for the support." Constellatia have previously released a lyric video for the song "All Nights Belong To You", which can be found by clicking here. Hailing from Cape Town, South Africa, Constellatia is the collaborative vision of Gideon Lamprecht and Keenan Oakes, founders of well-known acts Crow Black Sky and Wildernessking respectively. 'The Language of Limbs' is essentially a post-metal record with black metal and progressive influences, and a healthy dose of ambience and atmosphere; always deeply engaging with a flair for the romantic and nostalgic. "It is a record that came from a place of desperation; a musical outlet for the years of hardship both members endured in their personal lives." Gideon Lamprecht comments. "It's an album about obsession and overcoming. It's a triumphant record." adds Keenan Oakes. Formed in September 2018, and enlisting the talents of a few key collaborators, Constellatia soon completed work on the beautiful and emotional ride that is 'The Language of Limbs'. While the drums (Played by Lawrence Jaeger) and vocals were engineered by Daniel Thackwray at City Varsity, Cape Town, all other instruments were recorded by Lamprecht at his home studio in Glencairn, where he also mixed and mastered 'The Language of Limbs'. The album features additional and high class guest vocalists, namely Alison Rachel of Honeymoan and renowned singer/songwriter Lucy Kruger, and is an absolute must-have for fans of CULT OF LUNA, OPETH, PINK FLOYD or WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM. Follow Constellatia on Facebook and Instagram.  Bucharest, Romania based Post Black Metal quintet Vathos announce they have finished recording their debut album, Underwater, scheduled to be soon released in collaboration with Loud Rage Music. The 8 tracks material to be featured on Underwater was recorded at Studio148 (https://www.facebook.com/148studio) with Marius Costache. Vathos have already released a first video for the track Curse of Apathy here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iyjIeVNN38 More details to come soon. facebook.com/vathosband instagram.com/vathos.official www.loudragemusic.com loudragemusic.bandcamp.com |
If you enjoy reading this content, please consider a donation Donate© 2011-2021
Global Metal Apocalypse Archives
February 2021
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed