Solstafir, Oranssi Pazuzu, Hamferð – Club Academy, Manchester 21:11:2024 – Gig Review
23rd November 2024It’s late November in Manchester. It’s now festive season here in the UK with Mariah Carey now making her welcome/unpleasant return to our radios. Yet there’s still a refuge for those who need a midweek dosage of live metal. Enter the unholy Nordic trio of Solstafir, Oranssi Pazuzu, and Hamferð who brought the freezing cold weather from their native lands here on this frosty night in Manchester, as part of their Nordic Descent tour. As a collective, they also brought a certain left-field unorthodox metal spice to the stage this evening, to be headlined by Icelandic giants Solstafir. They’ve wowed audiences across the world with stunning atmospheric performances and expertly blended experimental post-metal elements into a sound rooted in black metal. They also celebrated a return to the consciousness of many fans with the recently released studio album “Hin Helga Kvol” (I’ve listened to it a lot; it’s solid gold!).
The frosty weather had made its way to the Club Academy basement, as cold as the Nordic lands the bands tonight hail from. It was sadly a bit sparse in terms of attendance so far, as sparsely populated as the Nordic lands the bands hail from. Maybe some had chosen not to brave the frosty weather. Maybe Anthrax playing across the city had stolen some of the potential crowd? In either case, I was in the best place for me as Hamferð was about to take to the stage.
Confession time. I have been a fan of fellow countrymen Tyr for almost 2 decades now and thought they were the only metal band of note from the Faroes Islands. After tonight, how wrong I was! Why did it take me so long to lay eyes on this death-doom outfit!? They represent so many things I love about the doom-metal genre. Low and slow, prioritising sheer cavernous emotional depth over soulless needless complexity. See, there was nothing fancy about their music, yet it takes deceptive compositional skill to pull this genre off, and they do this expertly. Vocalist Jon effortlessly switched from brutal guttural growls to larger-than-life soaring operatic vocals! A wonderful contrast and something you don’t often see in the genre. The funeral-style gowns the ban were draped in were as black and dark as their sorrow-drenched music.
The lights. Who was in charge of the lights ? At one point they were bright. Very bright. Too bright! To the point where it nearly killed the entire atmosphere and the show. It’s hard to enjoy a band when someone’s shining a torch as bright as the sun in your eyes! Fortunately, this didn’t kill the show as many are swaying and headbanging along in appreciation. Just like I was. The only blemish on a solid set.
They’ve not the only band who have released new music this year, and I’m already making plans to binge their latest record “Men Guðs hond er sterk” on my journey home! Is there a better compliment for a band’s performance ?
It was busier now, and warmer. As you’d expect with several hundred metal heads in one confined space. Over at the merch stand, I learned that this was the first time for Hamferð in the UK. Please don’t make it the last! Now time for Finland’s Oranssi Pazuzu who are a …erm, well, metal band! With a style also rooted in black metal, the band has made a name for themselves by offering a much more varied and experimental take on the genre and has quite frankly pushed boundaries to crazy new levels. This was going to be an experience, I knew it. Was I going to be prepared for this though?
This was a journey. A journey through the outer reaches of my musical palette as I was witnessing something quite extraordinary. “Am I at a post apocalyptic rave, a Prodigy show, or a black metal gig ?” I thought to myself. Or possibly all 3 at once? Definitely all 3 at once. The bass was intense, the kind of trouser shaking, bowel rearranging intense that you simply cannot experience at home.
The deafening roar from the crowd in between each song sums up how well received this experience was. At the end of the day, does it matter what genre a band is? If you’re looking for an atmospheric cocktail of multiple genres and all round spectacular live show, check out Oranssi Pazuzu.
Time for the main event; Iceland’s Solstafir. I had been lurking towards the back, finding a wall to lean against for added comfort (hey, I’m in my 30s, it has to be done). I abandoned this for a prime viewing spot more or less at the barrier (a decision which may have come back to haunt me later on). Now, my expectations were high. Spoiler alert; Solstafir absolutely smashed it and exceeded these expectations! See, I was expecting an atmospheric performance. I wasn’t expecting the thoroughly absorbing and all-consuming post-metal clinic this evening! The sound was absolutely flawless with the band leaving no stone unturned and ensuring every note and detail was given the optimal chance to shine in this ultra-complex mix.
It’s often a bold decision for a band to sing entirely in their native language. How can the audience make a connection if they don’t understand the lyrics? You don’t need to understand the lyrics in order to feel the raw power of frontman Aðalbjörn’s voice, a voice dripping in primitive emotional angst. If you need a better analogy, I saw one lady to my left for whom the occasion led to her becoming visibly emotional with tears streaming down her face. She felt all of that emotion. Aðalbjörn acknowledged this and briefly held hands with her in a touch of class!
The band ripped through many of their classics as well as a healthy injection of new material including ‘Hun andar’ and ‘Blakkrakki’. Speaking of classics; ‘Fjara’. “Well it’s been a fun set, best start to think about making my way home,” I thought to myself. It had been an hour now after all. Nope, Solstafir was only just getting started! The energy never lets up and the people here are more than getting their hard-earned money’s worth.
Half an hour after ‘Fjara’, it came to the final song, sadly. Even a 100-minute set has to end eventually, despite the promise of playing for an extra 5 hours if we bought every bit of merch (we didn’t). Ever the showman, Aðalbjörn decided to become Icelandic Spiderman during this final song and use the barrier as a tightrope, making sure to create a moment his fans would remember. Mission accomplished. My decision to be at the front meant that my outstretched arm was used as a balancing board at one point! An Instagram-worthy moment and yes, it was captured in video form.
Then, it was all over. The lights came on, security making sure we vacate, and a sense of despair. I didn’t want that to end. Well, I’ll have to catch Solstafir again when they’re next in the UK!
