When NYRST released their debut full-length album “Orsök” in 2020, the Icelandic Black Metallers demonstrated a ferocious musical ability that was unusual for a band so early in their career. Filled with deliciously dark melodies and intense vocals, “Orsök” clearly signposted the path that the band was destined to follow in its musical endeavours.
And NYRST’s follow up album “Völd” builds on the band’s early promise, and the desire of its members – Snæbjörn on vocals, Eysteinn and Davíð on guitars, Egill on bass, and Sveinbjörn on drums, to create the coldest, most eerie and barren of soundscapes possible.
Völd” will be released on the 8th December through Dark Essence Records.
As the band explains from their base in Reykjavik: “This release marks a big milestone in our career as a band. We’ve developed a lot as musicians since the release of ‘Orsök’ and we took a very different approach to writing and composition. Our intention was to bring all the best elements of our previous work and implement new ideas along with a different theme, which in turn resulted in a much heavier, grim but melodic album.”
Being based in Reykjavik has no doubt helped NYRST’s ambition to bear fruit, because “Völd” was written and rehearsed within a few kilometres of an active, lava-spewing, volcano, whose very presence has allowed the band to draw inspiration from a stark landscape whose beauty is underscored by a brooding, ever-present, danger.
“Völd”, which, roughly translated, means “force, power or might”, is an unapologetic homage to Iceland’s immense volcanoes. Its music conjures forth images of the unrelenting and unforgiving harshness of nature that has dominated every living being in this land.
“Völd” track listing:
- Völd
- Sundra skal sálu
- Hrímvíti
- Fjallið andar
- Eilíft eldhaf
- Drottnari nafnlausra guða
- Af fjarri ströndum
