Right now I'm listening to the epic Sólstafir, a band from Iceland who play a seemingly unique take on metal. They started out with their first album Í blóði og anda released back in 2002. It is quite an aggresive and raw record featuring plenty of stirring Black and Viking metal. And yet on this the first release they were already showing signs of the progressive instrumental elements that would dominate their later recordings
Fast forward a couple of years and we end up with Köld, the 3rd album released by this band, and argubably their breakthrough release. I wouldn't say its better than the first 2 albums, but its more cohesive than the earlier stuff. Gone are the Black Metal infulences although the guitar work is still pretty intense at times. At times angry, and at other times sad and emotional, there is plenty of variety on offer here, accompanied by the vocalist's distinctive voice.
And finally we check out one of their later releases.
This is the masterpiece Ótta. Apart from the very characteristic vocals and the distinctive guitar sound, there is very little in common with those early releases. And to be honest, we could spend hours arguing over what style of music this is (prog metal? post-hardcore? Shoe-gaze?), It doesn't really matter when the music is this good...
So there you have it. Sólstafir are one of my fave bands at the moment, and although the style changes quite a bit over the years. They are always passionate and raw and full of heart. Go check them out, you won't regret it!
The tape is their most recent album, the sublimely beautiful Berdreyminn
Good stuff. There is something about Iceland that inspires imaginative music. Must be those long nights and the volcanic fumes.
When you mentioned in one of my other posts like you like Prog Rock stuff, I thought you would find this interesting, especially the 2 most recent albums.
It's refreshing to hear something a little different on here, I do love my weird music too. @steevc mentioned you in his FollowFriday and that you have this account for alternative music.
TIP: Don't use the curie or ocd tag's, it won't get you either, although I am going to make an exception here as you are getting bugger all on your posts. Yeah, I'm from the UK like you.
Ah ok, I'm still getting the hang of how it all works around here... everyone seems to have a different opinion on how to use Hive effectively. The only thing that seems consistent from most people is 'post interesting content' and 'don't self-vote!' which makes sense to me.
Its good to find someone else on here who likes weird music, I was becoming concerned by the lack of interest haha.
It's a convoluted and complex system that can punish the unwary if you do the wrong things, sometimes unknowingly. The two points you made are good, and if you stick to them nobody will bother you.
The UK community is relatively small but quite tight as is the global one. Once, it was larger but then the value of the token was 10x what it is today. Who knows whether that will happen again, maybe one day.
In September we are having a get together at @c0ff33a's place, you should consider coming up and meeting a few of us, it's not a cult, though I once thought so myself! @ashtv will be going as he's from the next town, Huddersfield as will I.
https://peakd.com/hive-151781/@c0ff33a/busy-roasting-day-with-visitors-and-announcing-hive-uk-northern-meet-up-in-halifax