Misþyrming continue Iceland's penchant for awesome metal

      Iceland, despite its historical association with the rest of Scandinavia, never really partook in the extreme metal explosion that rocked Scandinavia (or, indeed, the rest of Europe) in the early 90s. Sure, acts like Sólstafir began as rather traditional Viking metal, but within a few years had taken the project in a completely different direction. Indeed, it seems many Icelandic acts are loathe to do the same thing twice - Sigur Rós' experimentations with shoegaze at their inception fused with more pop-minded sensibilities as the band aged - and this trend extends to the country's metal.
      Icelandic metal stands apart from its church-burning-and-corpsepaint-wearing Scandinavian compatriots in many ways. Most notably, and unsurprisingly, is the heady element of atmosphere that almost all Icelandic acts seem to expertly work into their music. For Sigur Rós, this takes the form of dreamy, Slowdive-esque clouds, but insofar as metal acts, Svartidauði, for example, contrast frenetic drumming with sinister guitars to create a nefarious, feverish miasma. Meanwhile, Wormlust's nightmarishly cold synthwork and freezing psychedelia paint a much different picture.
      Enter Misþyrming, an extremely young (as in, formed last year) Icelandic black metal band signed to Fallen Empire Records, who are fast becoming one of my favorite underground BM labels. As of writing, Misþyrming have no material released, with their debut full-length Söngvar elds og óreiðu ('Songs of Fire and Chaos') due October 19th, but have released two tracks of blistering black metal to whet our appetites.
'Söngur heiftar', the album's opening track, echoes Svartidauði's brutal attack while toying with the faintest hint of melody as the drums and guitar surge through catchy combinations - but if 'melody' makes you think Dissection's sorrowful passages, you'll be sorely mistaken. Misþyrming are nothing if not staunchly violent, with the guitar melodies bereft of any sort of comfort.

      Fallen Empire, who just this past year have released two mind-blowing black metal records from Skáphe and Xothist, are well-known for Misþyrming's take on black metal, but this doesn't diminish the Icelandics' skill at songwriting whatsoever - contrarily, it makes me even more excited for Söngvar elds og óreiðu to see the light of day.

      You can stream Misþyrming's two available songs below.