There’s a surprising amount of black metal coming out of Iceland these days, and perhaps even more surprising is the range of different sonic experiences they provide, from the guttural growlers with their machine gun drumming to the the atmospheric hellscapes, there’s a lot of breadth.

Óreiða has taken it’s own path to darkness on its self-titled debut, a cacophonous and unrelenting irresistible force of sound, like a moving sonic wall pushing everything before it, never slowing, never stopping.  In fact, I’m not so sure that black metal is even the right descriptor for this.  I’m not even sure the English language has the right word or combination of words to describe it.  Is that a flute I hear on “Daudi”?  I’m not sure, but whatever it is gives the song a strange folk flavor despite the guitar that burrows into your skull.  The most classically metal song on the album is the closer, “Draugar”, with its repetitive underlying riff and lightning-fast-if-understated drums.

The good news is you can listen to Óreiða on Bandcamp HERE.  The bad news is that the limited edition vinyl (100 copies in splatter, 150 copies in black) are sold out, so you’ll have to get them on the secondary market.