Okay, here I am venturing outside my normal realms and diving into more black metal. Auðn hail from Iceland and my bud, Graham, Deepsend Records owner, sent me their s/t debut a few years ago and I was hooked. The band sings in their native language and the best way to describe them is atmospheric black metal that also is on the depressive side of things. Farvegir Fyrndar was released at the tail end of 2017 and is ass-kicking from start to finish.

“Veröld Hulin” gets things started underway with some tribal stylized drumming and the beginning segment is more of an instrumental with the atmospheric and killer guitar melodies coming in and then at the 2.48 mark right into a brutal blast and Hjalti Sveinsson lets out an earth shattering scream/growl. The song slows down and then the guitar melodies come biting through once again. Aðalsteinn Magnússon and Andri Björn Birgisson are quite the guitarists. How the melodies, solos and acoustic accompaniments play off one-another are pretty freakin’ great. Sigurður Kjartan Pálsson can mix things up on the drums a bit and on the second song, “Lífvana Jörð” he does some nice fills and hitting the toms just the right way. This track features a killer drum roll at the 2.10 section, which goes into a pummeling blast and then slows down, then another great drum roll and back into the blast. Scorching. This section is the Holy Shit moment and how the atmosphere bleeds into the song structure is well done.

“Í Hálmstráið Held” closes the album with a great fast beginning before the slower section comes in and then back into the fast raging moments and the vocals are just pained, anguished and vicious sounding. Hjálmar Gylfason’s bass guitar comes through on this track a bit and it’s nice to hear it. A little more bass guitar across the record would not have hurt, though. Some haunting, atmospheric guitar solo at the 2.53 part really embeds in the listener’s brain and it does not let up and once the guitar melodies come in, it’s really a very, very emotive, depressing section. It’s quite spectacular, actually. The song eventually trails off and the album ends. Make no mistake the rest of the album rages from fierce, demonic black metal to more of the atmospheric, depressing, plodding and melodic scope which Auðn does so seamlessly. This is straight forward at times, at other times, non-linear and I am quite moved by Auðn’s ability to craft such interesting and well-thought out extreme metal. Very creative and original.

Farvegir Fyrndar has a nice cold black metal production. At times you will feel stranded in some Icelandic freezing storm and at other times you will feel the warmth and breadth of some animal you have just slaughtered for your nightly meal. Farvegir Fyrndar has a nicely layed out booklet with lyrics. Due to the songs being written and performed in their native language I cannot tell you what they are singing about. They could be screaming the Dallas Cowboys rule, over and over again, for all I know, which of course would be killer. Anyway, Auðn a special band who know how to write quality songs and play the damn songs with emotion. Something extreme metal needs more of-feeling-not plastic. Farvegir Fyrndar is an excellent album. If you enjoy the black metal scene and somehow they have escaped your radar, give Auðn a listen, you won’t be disappointed.

 

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