A collective of numerous infamous individuals from Iceland has been formed under the moniker Sól án varma (= sun without radiance), which, even though it has been active since 2023, it's just now that a first full work comes to fruition. It is fully worthy of the label "full" as this self-titled record has a drawn out, stretched duration of 1 hour and 7 minutes, with 12 tracks, making it quite a piece to listen to and automatically placing it at the territory of albums that require longer attention span than your average extreme metal album.
As always, the aesthetics are overwhelmingly beautiful and the production is not simply ideal, but characterizes the dreary and thrilling epicness of Icelandic black metal, especially coming from these musicians. All the tracks are titled with the same word "Afbrigði" and follow Latin numbering, containing exceptional lyricism in the band's native language. The juiciest part of Sól án varma is the compositions themselves, though, which exert terrific potency once the record builds up its pace and establishes itself.
It actually starts slowly, with the first 2 pieces being long and featuring tense dark ambient / noise meandering, in between some sparse distorted guitar sections (even though, when the pummeling riffs in the middle of "Afbrigði II" kick in, they stamp an immediate album highlight). Then, Sól án varma spreads its winds and covers the sky by its massive presence, coming in the form of apparently ridiculous inspiration from the band to create this material.
The clearest sibling is Misþyrming, with D.G. being a founder and main songwriter, as his characteristic top-notch vocals crowning the instrumentation. "Afbrigði V" even closes with growing momentum the same way as the aforementioned band's track "Orgia", with a riff that is almost the same. The opener "Afbrigði I", as well as "Afbrigði IX" & "Afbrigði X", hit more slowly, while the introduction of "Afbrigði XI" almost gives out chills of the same kind as Deathspell Omega's last record The Long Defeat from last year.
Anyhow, simply put, this record is a packed masterpiece. The sequence from "Afbrigði IV" to "Afbrigði VII" includes the most compelling and most captivating black metal of the year so far. But even apart from that, there's memorable melodies and moments throughout the whole span of this generally lengthy record, which manages not to fall under its towering duration. There's so much in Sól án varma, and all of the best kind of Icelandic black metal, which right now equates to the best kind of black metal as a whole.
Out on April 7th, 2023 | Ván Records
DAMAGE: 4.5/5 [Brilliant]
Glad to see you've enjoyed this one as much as me—Iceland almost never misses, it's wild how consistent it is…
ReplyDeleteIt requires more attention that the quick eye-catchers of some other Icelandic bands.
DeleteI was a bit afraid for the first couple of minutes that it would meander too much.
But after all it is a really massive record, absolutely remarkable. One of my favourites of the year for sure.