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Independent debut album of these Icelanders kills!
Drungi is a new band that hails from Reykjavík, Iceland and according to themselves the band makes a Folk/Heavy/Doom Metal, but it is much more than this: Drungi presents in this debut album more influences inside melodic Death Metal and even some Black Metal and it’s totally indicated for fans of bands such In Vain, Cormorant, Borknagar, Enslaved and even Sólstafir.
Of course, they don’t go further in styles like Progressive Metal, although their sound is very experimental and heavy at the same time as shown in the opener called Alda with a strong riff and the musically diverse second track called Þoka that its really heavy! There is a headbanging factor about the Drungi music with lots of cool atmospheric solos, I mean these cats are not messing around. The vocals revolve in bellows that are really pleasant to the ears!
Ófærð appears with some female vocals but the cohesive factor of peculiar Drungi music stays intact with the almost same musical progress that increase in intensity while the song develops. Over again the solos are second to none here.
This is the kind of album which gets better on each song as the subsequent track called Skriða proves: the diverse vocal approaches are simply beautiful and aggressive as fuck while paradoxically the band manages to keep the riffs simple and beefy, and the solos complete the background of another great track.
Frost continues to show their atmospheric NORDIC metal with chunks of Heavy Metal in this one with behemothic drumbeats (it never gets fast) and headbanging attitude all around. It’s a marriage between modern and traditional.
The upbeat next track Skjálfti helps the listener to keep interest in the disc and the viking way to sing it simple destroys everything with a Black Sabbath flavor to it. A gigantic musical piece lemme point it.
The delicious bassline of the penultimate song called Kvika, gets one by the balls: purest sturm und drang attitude, this is one of the best songs of the entire disc with the vocalist singing with grit and resolve., an extreme powerful number! A splendid track! The song ends with the imperative solos, and over again a change of tempo that keeps things captivating.
Myrkur announces the grand finalle a little bit more dramatic and melodic but NEVER cheesy, it’s potent and vigorous and this final act in particular gets stuck in one’s head. Damn!
This album is a for sure the best debut of a band this year so far and I seriously doubt there will be something new so enticing as this new Drungi album. Try to put your dirty hands in this disc if you are seeking something different and very metal at the same time.
Hamfarir Hugans is out today and it is Self-Released.
Rating: 9/10
Roderick Blutrache
Dark Souls United 