Sólstafir music penetrates the mind, body, and soul. One does not need to speak their Icelandic tongue to understand the spectrum of raw emotion evoked by every song. "Endless Twilight of Codependent Love" further solidifies the Icelandic rock giants’ place as masters of their craft, delivering their signature elegance and unbridled passion upon which they've built their career. While a clear evolution, Sólstafir also pays homage to their metallic roots. Much like the vast expanse of their homeland, the band once again embodies the ever-turning wheel of the four seasons with their shifting light and darkness.
Music will always be inspired by the environment in which it is created. With its incredible array of highly diverse landscapes ranging from white glaciers via volcanic bizarreness, moss-green bubble-fields, deep fjords, and frost-cracked mountains to black beaches, Iceland has shaped a host of astonishingly original in SÓLSTAFIR. More than ever, SÓLSTAFIR’s new opus ‘Endless Twilight of Codependent Love’ highlights the contrasting influences that have inspired the band over the years. Whether you’re listening to the black metal infused “Dionysus”, “Her Fall From Grace”, the gracious song “Til Modar” or a straightforward SÓLSTAFIR masterpiece “Akkeri”, the Icelanders have mastered all these elements and blended it seamlessly into one record.
SÓLSTAFIR are not like any other band. Their sixth album 'Berdreyminn' underscores this statement. As its title "a dreamer of forthcoming events" aptly describes, the four Icelanders have taken their already impressive evolution one step further. The band has continued to amalgamate haunting melodies, psychedelic phases, as well as strong undercurrents of classic rock and hard rock with echoes of their metal past. Yet SÓLSTAFIR's focus is not on style but pure emotion. 'Berdreyminn' is eclectic by a conscious choice to make feelings audible and transform taste as well as texture to sound. Genre borders are not broken but simply ignored. Musical influences are gathered from a wide range of sources, re-arranged, and woven into new patterns. Melancholy, longing, anger, joy, pleasure, pain, and other emotions are fuelling & fulling this album.
Icelandic post-metal legends Sólstafir are now re-issuing their long out of print sophomore album, "Masterpiece of Bitterness". The 2005 full-length marked a turning point for the Icelandic icons. This release signifies the moment that Sólstafir started to embrace progressive and post metal elements, thus laying the blueprint for their definitive sound as fans know it today.
Music will always be inspired by the environment in which it is created. With its incredible array of highly diverse landscapes ranging from white glaciers via volcanic bizarreness, moss-green bubble-fields, deep fjords, and frost-cracked mountains to black beaches, Iceland has shaped a host of astonishingly original in SÓLSTAFIR. More than ever, SÓLSTAFIR’s new opus ‘Endless Twilight of Codependent Love’ highlights the contrasting influences that have inspired the band over the years. Whether you’re listening to the black metal infused “Dionysus”, “Her Fall From Grace”, the gracious song “Til Modar” or a straightforward SÓLSTAFIR masterpiece “Akkeri”, the Icelanders have mastered all these elements and blended it seamlessly into one record.
Iceland's Solstafir's fourth album, "Snartir Sandar," is so epic that it had to be spread across two CD's. Formed in 1994, these Vikings Pagan ways evolved into a widely psychedelic and eerily rocking sound. This Season of Mist debut is both hotter than the magma and darker than the volcanic ash their homeland was formed out of. What Sólstafir have released is a not-very-small LP filled to the brim with Shoegaze, Post-Rock, Atmospheric Sludge Metal and some hints of Progressive and Alternative Rock. Despite borrowing from some seriously overdone genres (at least at the time of release), there's something about this album that's unique without really inventing anything different. Simply put, they have drawn from their influences well enough to create music that sounds like they aren't blatant rip-offs of contemporary artists.
Solstafir is an Icelandic outfit who, perhaps due to outgassing of volcanic vents on that geologically active island, have managed to cross epic metal with psychedelic influences and even a smidge of Fields of the Nephilim. Sólstafir has been around for quite some time, but Köld is only the band's third full length album. With song lengths ranging generally in the eight to twelve minute mark, one naturally would assume it takes quite a bit of time to write such long, epic numbers.
The word "epic" shall be used liberally throughout this review. Sólstafir fortunately avoids the dark side of epic, which is extremely long songs that have poor structure, too much noodling or no sense of when to knock it off…
Icelandic rock heathens Solstafir return with the stunning album 'Ótta'. The follow-up 2011's epic double album 'Svartir Sandar', 'Ótta' is a powerful and moving statement of intent that burns with the beauty of an aurora. Stellar new tracks like "Nón", "Dagmál", "Miðdegi", and "Ótta" shows Solstafir at the height of their powers, and unfold with patience and purpose in equal measure. With 'Ótta' this extraordinary quartet have crafted a riveting album that is at once familiar, ancient, and timeless.