Solstafir

Drungi – Hamfarir Hugans Review

By GardensTale on April 16, 2024 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Folk Metal, Heavy Metal, 11 comments

“I love ‘for fans of’ or ‘related artists’ shorthands. In lieu of the endless genre discussions, it’s a great shortcut to match potential fans with new music. It has its shortcomings, of course; for one, you need to actually know the bands to get a feeling for whether it might be up your alley. Furthermore, bands can abuse it by referencing a bunch of popular bands, even when their style is only tangentially related. Case in point: the promo sheet for Drungi’s self-released debut Hamfarir Hugans included such a baffling spread in their FFO, I was immediately skeptical. Sólstafir, Skálmöld, Black Sabbath, Gojira and Manowar. What on Earth could possibly sound like all of those at the same time?” Sounds like…madness.

1476 – In Exile Review

By Carcharodon on July 6, 2023 in Reviews, Ambient Metal, Folk, Neofolk, Punk, 55 comments

“Well, 1476’s In Exile is certainly more than I bargained for. Having dropped my previous promo for this week because I had suspicions about the political leanings of its members (that it was bollocks made this a happy development), I picked up 1476 on a whim. And it’s a lot. Of many things. A lot of music, clocking in at over an hour. A lot of styles and influences—the accompanying blurb describes In Exile as “wonderfully all over the place”; the latter part of that statement isn’t wrong but the adverb, we’ll see.” Leatherface and open space.

Forlesen – Black Terrain Review

By Carcharodon on October 27, 2022 in Reviews, Drone, Post-Metal, 23 comments

The debut record from San Francisco’s Forlesen hit me at a weird time. At the height of the first, very strict COVID lockdown in the UK, Hierophant Violent struck like a (very, very slow-moving) freight train. A masterclass in slow-build songwriting, exuding patience, confidence and skill in its execution, the album hooked me from the first spin, which was on a sunlit walk, taken as my one permitted piece of outdoor exercise for the day. Combining post-metal and drone with flashes of black metal and doom, Hierophant Violent snagged my first ever 4.5 and with it—the album, not my score—Forlesen secured places on three staff end-of-year lists.” Forlesen or Moresen.

Ellende – Triebe Review

By Doom_et_Al on January 20, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, 63 comments

“Can art be updated? Once released, is a piece of art fixed forever, like chiseled stone? Or fluid, like the hobo wine in the AMG office dispenser? If an artist or musician takes an existing work, and makes changes, have they created an entirely separate piece, or merely created their preferred version? Austrian black metal band, Ellende, raises these questions with its latest (shhhhh) EP, Triebe.” Disastrous moments in filtration.

GardensTale’s Top Ten(ish) Album Art of 2020

By GardensTale on December 22, 2020 in Blog Posts, 171 comments

“We spend every single day of the year on this blog talking about music. The highs, the lows, the marshes of the meh. Occasionally, we give a nod to an especially beautiful cover (or an especially heinous one) to buff our word count for the article, but it’s barely a condiment on the edge of the buffet plate, stacked with pretentious slop, that we throw casually in front of the voracious readership. But this one time a year, I don’t have to talk about the music at all.” Gardens variety galleries.

Sólstafir – Endless Twilight of Co-Dependent Love Review

By Carcharodon on November 2, 2020 in Reviews, Post-Metal, 26 comments

“Icelandic post-metal titans Sólstafir need little introduction but we at AMG Towers are fans of formulaic, masturbatory prose, so I’ll provide one anyway. Sólstafir is Icelandic for ‘radiating sun beams,’ something I have always thought to be wildly inaccurate as a name for this entity, which at no point embodies sunshine. In their early days, Sólstafir played raw, aggressive black metal, interspersed with hints of Viking metal and occasional atmospheric passages (see the debut, Í blóði og anda). Since then, with each release, Sólstafir have evolved, peaking, many would argue, on their fifth full-length, 2014’s Ótta.” Twilight of the Ice Lords?

Ba’al – Ellipsism Review

By Carcharodon on October 28, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, Post-Metal, 16 comments

“Post-black and blackened post metal. The same thing, surely? I would argue no. Post-black metal tends to rely on lengthy, brooding atmospheric passages, interspersed with blasts of black metal fury. Blackened post metal, on the other hand, should be towering, mesmerizing riffs with that vicious black metal edge to proceedings. Sheffield, UK’s Ba’al have been knocking around since 2016, putting out EPs in their first year and then in 2019 also, but the absolute shitshow that is 2020 sees this four piece dropping their debut full-length, Ellipsism.” Post-Post.

Dynfari – Myrkurs er þörf Review

By Doom_et_Al on September 22, 2020 in Reviews, Post-Metal, 10 comments

“One of the countless awful consequences of COVID-19 has been music from artists having their releases delayed. Icelanders Dynfari were one of many victims of this. Their fifth album, Myrkurs er þörf (Darkness is Needed), originally slated for an April release, is only seeing the light of day now. For the uninitiated, Dynfari plays an organic blend of black metal and post-metal in the vein of Sólstafir and Agalloch. Their last LP, The Four Doors of the Mind, was a concept album chronicling the various human responses to profound mental trauma.” Therapy delayed.

Vinsta – Drei Deita Review

By Twelve on November 1, 2019 in 2019, Austrian Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Self-released, Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 34 comments

“Sometimes metal is addictive in its brutality. Sometimes it is so technically impressive that we come back to it time and time again. Other times, it’s catchy, burrowing its hooks into our helpless brains and infecting us from within. But, in my own opinion, the best metal is simply compelling; it has an abstract quality about it that draws you in and becomes increasingly rewarding with every subsequent listen. So it was with Drei Deita (Three Foreboders), the second full-length release from Vinsta, a solo project from Austria’s Christian Höll.” Resurgence intensifies.

Ashbringer – Absolution Review

By Carcharodon on June 26, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Black Metal, Experimental Metal, Post-metal, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, Black Metal, Folk Metal, Post-Metal, 36 comments

“When Grymm awarded Ashbringer’s debut, Vacant, a deserved 3.5 back in 2015, he was writing about the self-released exploits of a one-man black metal project, delivered by someone then aged 18. Scroll forward four years and Nick Stanger, Mr. Ashbringer himself, has, presumably, reached the ripe old age of 20-something. He’s also released a second record (2016’s Yūgen, which we failed to review), gathered around him a group of three other musicians and signed a deal with Prosthetic Records. Now a four-person collective – or ‘band,’ if you will – Ashbringer are ready to drop their third album, Absolution.”