Thursday, February 9, 2017

Draugsól - Volaða Land (2017)


Iceland is no longer an underdog in the filthy bottomless pits of Death Metal/Black Metal and hasn't been for a while, despite it's humble population where the sheep outnumber the humans on its treeless windswept land. These cold bastards experience a lot of darkness throughout the winter months and nasally basement bloggers might say this could nurture such a predilection for all things bestial and grim, maybe, maybe not. Icelanders seem to be willing to try everything.

Holding the banners are Mannveira, Svartidauði, Naðra, MisÞyrming, Sinmara, Carpe Noctem but even one man projects upholding the loud, drenched in noise weirdness like AMFJ who has also collaborated with Svartidauði, and it's hard to ignore bands like Muck and The Pink Street Boys to name a few that are pushing the boundaries within their sound, but everyones sound is conducive to pushing the boundaries within their respected pigeon-holed genres.

I digress. Draugsól don't seem to be an exception to the rule, they like their respected cohorts attack their sound with a type of uncontested ferocity that lends a certain sincerity to its bleak and feral nature, similar to their island brothers in New Zealand or the likes of Western Canada within the realms of Bestial Death Metal.

Volaða Land is more of what we have come to expect; A tactfully experimented practice within the black and death metal camp but far enough removed from church burning blast beats and atypical death metal riffs, instead tracks lithely move between sounds with veteran understanding and an almost sentient atmosphere. Volaða Land is one of those albums that can be hard to nail down, but one things for certain, it's forward thinking and executed with a due diligence.

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