Sólstafir at O2 Academy Islington, London – 24.11.2024

Between a freezing night in Brighton and transport madness in London, it was hard-earned fun, catching Sólstafir on tour this year.

Hamferð

Bringing something of the operatic personality of Hansi of Blind Guardian, the opening set of Faroese band Hamferð created a cinematic atmosphere fitting of a grimdark dungeon crawling video game (you could easily play Hades to it). Just listen to the song Ábær off their latest album Men Gu​ð​s hond er sterk (based on the true story of a 1915 whaling accident) – 100% mountain top boss battle material. Myself not a death metal aficionado, but I have reached a stage in life where I can appreciate a well-employed growl and I particularly admired the wonderful range of vocalist Jón Aldará, delivering both distorted and soaring musicality.

Oranssi Pazuzu

Flexibility is much needed when from the ocean-battered rocks we soar and land into a deep dark rave. Finnish experimentalists Oranssi Pazuzu delivered a combination of sounds I (again) don’t usually gravitate towards, but which in their hands sounded not only fresh but palatable to the uninitiated: black metal via electronic music. 10 seconds into Bioalkemisti off their latest album Muuntautuja and I was fully onboard. Now, can their more psychedelic take on industrial metal be a hard sell to a post-metal crowd? Maybe. But were they generating a sound that felt like it was scooting inside my brain, like a fish slithering around its skull-bowl? Yes! Their much longer set ended on two giant headbangers and a guitar thrown to the floor…

Sólstafir

…so it was quite the change in tone when the headliners Sólstafir could only be described as chill. The Icelandic four-piece, veterans of the stage since the mid-90s, invite the audience to ponder and to rage as they storm through their extensive catalogue, while remaining as cool as their native country.

Playing extensively off their latest album release, Hin Helga Kvöl, the new songs travel around the room to new ears and imaginations. More emotionally raw and rhythmically aggressive than previous releases, a song like Blakkrakki feels like a sergeant’s bark to order, the whole set only too timely in an increasingly confusing and infuriating world. But what got me into this room was the melancholic, almost subdued, beauty of Ótta from the eponymous album. When it comes time for it, vocalist and guitarist Addi kicks it off, towering above my side of the rail from the top of a speaker. I can hear the unamplified strumming of his guitar (made of gorgeously sculpted wood with Nordic knots and runes). It’s as transporting and as liberating as I had hoped it would.

To close, Addi has a walk around on the barricade, held up by the many hands of fans. It’s a perfect metaphor for the trust a band places in its audience with everything they’ve poured into their music, and a reminder of our duty as listeners to the creators we love: we gotta be there for them.

P.S. A quiet shoutout to the Concorde 2 (Brighton) staff member who handled the in-between-set playlist, we went from Gojira (metal) to clipping. (hip hop) to the traditional Icelandic songs of Steindór Andersen and Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson – just to make sure our listening muscles were properly stretched and warmed up.

Review by Ruxandra Mindru and photos by Magda Campagne.

Artists: Hamferð, Oranssi Pazuzu, Sólstafir