Svartir Sandar

Svartir Sandar
Studio album from Sólstafir
Publication (s)	October 14, 2011
Label (s)	Season of Mist
Format (s)	Double CD
Genre (s)	Heavy metal , psychedelic metal , post-rock
Title (number)	12
running time	77:29
occupation	Aðalbjörn Tryggvason: guitar, vocals Sæþór Maríus Sæþórsson: guitar Svavar Austmann: Bass Guðmundur Óli Pálmason: drums
production	Aðalbjörn Tryggvason, Fredrik Reinedahl
chronology Köld (2009) Svartir Sandar Ótta (2014)
Single release Fjara

Svartir Sandar (Isl. "Black Sands" ) is a 2011 released double album by the Icelandic band Sólstafir .

Track list

Andvari

1. Ljós í stormi - 11:35
2. Fjara - 6:39
3. Þín orð - 6:20
4. Sjúki skugginn - 5:07
5. Era - 4:53
6. Kukl - 5:08

Gola

1. Melrakkablús - 9:58
2. Draumfari - 3:40
3. Stinningskaldi - 1:15
4. Stormfari - 3:37
5. Svartir sandar - 8:21
6. Djákninn - 10:51

reception

The album received mostly good reviews, including the title "Album of the Month" by the German music magazine Metal Hammer . Other positive reviews come from Allmusic , where the album was rated four out of five points, and musikreviews.de (14/15 points)

Svartir Sandar reached number 7 in the Icelandic and number 11 in the Finnish charts. Fjara reached number 1 on the Icelandic single charts.

Recording and style

The album was recorded in a recording studio in a former swimming pool near Reykjavík .

The style of the album is described by Metal Hammer as " Twilight of Pagan , Post Rock , Prog , Psychedelic and Metal ". Musikreviews.de speaks of the fact that it is not metal in the classical sense and concludes that Svartir Sandar is " the best non-metallic metal album of the year ".

According to drummer Guðmundur Óli Pálmason it is not a concept album ; however, the lyrics sung in Icelandic have a kind of common thread that is about "a lost soul wandering through a cold, black volcanic landscape, full of regrets and even feelings of guilt from the past" .

The artwork comes from the Norwegian artist Kim Holm.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Album of the month Sólstafir 6 Stars Svartir Sandar metal-hammer.de
2. ↑ Svartir Sandar at Allmusic (English)
3. ↑ Sólstafir: Svartir Sandar (Review) musikreviews.de
4. ↑ Sólstafir ( Memento of the original from November 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. icelandairwaves.is 
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Interview with Guðmundur Óli Pálmason about Svartir Sandar ( memento of the original from January 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. metal.de