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Iceland has earned an automatic grace with me—If I see an album under the canopy of black/death metal being put out from the windswept nation I will always direct some time and energy into listening to that thing, and you should too… They've earned it. The list of quality albums coming from that tiny island has got to be the highest per capita out of anywhere else?
I digress, musically Vítahringur is a melting pot of all those Icelandic sounds but with more poise. I see Mannveira slapped with a black metal tag everywhere, but not only is that lazy, it's not accurate. Without dipping into the overly formulaic and trite discussion of genres (and their sub-genres) its worth it (especially in this case) to acknowledge the myriad of nuance.
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Its foundations are built mostly upon the Icelandic black metal sound of whirring and hypnotic guitar chords much like Naðra, Sinmara, Svartidauði and Misþyrming (etc.) albeit with a little more focus on the space around the chords and creating atmosphere through something more of a doom tinged approach of canyon like mid-tempo, which often features lofty guitars akin to post-metal more so than black metal. A standout difference to me is in the vocal mix, which favours a much bulkier sound than its counterparts, barely if ever dipping into anything of a shrill like scream that's become omnipotent in Icelandic black metal. Before I get to verbose I'll just say that Mannveira have achieved something dense and great here, as always, worth your time and energy!
Mannveira - Vítahringur (bandcamp)
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