SOLSTAFIR: Endless Twilight Of Codependent Love (POST ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Sólstafir didn't wait for Iceland to become fashionable to be noticed. Sculpting at the beginning a rather classical Viking black metal, it is by moving away from its extreme roots but by keeping its volcanic aura that the band led by Aðalbjörn Tryggvason, singer, guitarist and incidentally the last historical member, finally forged its identity. This identity is easily recognizable, based above all on this voice as magnetic as it is expressive and on an epic writing that looks like a lava flow.

The original black art has gradually given way to an aerial and bubbling post-rock, strange if not furiously loony out on "Masterpiece Of Bitterness" (2005), wiser from "Ótta" (2014) but no less fascinating. "Berdreyminn", its successor, however, disappointed, imprinting only vague memories. "Endless Twilight Of Codependent Love" was therefore strongly and feverishly awaited. Cleverly, Season Of Mist announced an album embracing all the musical facets of the band, an easy description that often means nothing.

Once this seventh effort is digested, we are reassured even if it is not certain that the disappointed ones of its predecessor will find faith in its progenitors again. If Sólstafir's imprint remains of course a strong one, a source of compositions whose origin is beyond doubt, at the risk of feeling warmed up, as illustrated by 'Dyonisus', (too) typical of the band, "Endless Twilight Of Codependent Love" unfortunately testifies to a softness propensity that does not give birth to the best moments of the record. Thus, sleep is not far away during 'Her Fall From', 'Til Moldar' and even with 'Alda Syndrana', however more intense, titles that confuse softness and nonchalance. Carved from the same mould, 'Rökkur' bewitches more by its melancholic gravity and the electronic emanations that escape from it.

Opening on the immense 'Akkeri', in the hearth of which burns the essence of the Sólstafir that we cherish so much, but which reflects badly a menu more focused on indolent atmospheres than on blazing flames, we can understand that this new album will leave many fans hungry. However, apart from the fact that at the other end of the road stands the equally monumental 'Úlfur', worthy in every way of the great songs of yesteryear, this opus must be given time to infuse because under the quiet slowness of the majority of its songs still vibrates that magmatic beauty of the group, like 'Drýsill', a falsely sweet alliance of fire and ice. Not forgetting the curious 'Or', which starts out with a bluesy air before its features harden, become granite and fly away in a moving finale.

Admittedly, not everything is very successful nor inspired in "Endless Twilight Of Codependent Love", but the two sentinels who frame it justify by themselves his listening. Without reaching the same level as the triplet "Masterpiece Of Bitterness" / "Köld" / "Svartir Sandar", the work exudes more charm than its predecessor, while remaining in the artistic and qualitative continuity of "Ótta". - Official website

SOLSTAFIR

ENDLESS TWILIGHT OF CODEPENDENT LOVE

SEASON OF MIST

POST ROCK