There is so much black metal coming out of Iceland these days that I’m beginning to wonder if the entrance to Hell isn’t actually on the island after all. (♠)

Endasálmar opens with the brief and creepy “Eilíf þjáning”, a sort of Gregorian chant kind of thing that leads into Ljáin’s brand of black metal emphasizing distorted guitar and almost lo-fi-ish vocals that sound more like an instrument than a(n) (in)human voice, so much so that you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a purely instrumental album.

There appear to be three different colored versions of this tape – black, green, and blue, each in an edition of 50.  While I don’t see these for sale on the Ljáin Bandcamp page, you can still listen to the album in its entirety THERE, so if you want a taste of the more extreme side of metal go give it a listen.

(♠) The volcano Hekla was believed by many (and by many faiths) to be the gateway to Hell.  I can neither confirm nor refute this.  I have driven past it before, but didn’t notice anything particularly unusual or Hell-like.