Send "Solefald " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Sputnikmusic |
 How much do you have to piss someone off before they start sending you death threats? In the age of the internet, it probably doesn’t take much. If you include the fact that the people making the threats were a group of fun-seekers known as black metal fans, it’s easy to assume that it was probably just something for them to do before they ate their Count Chocula in the morning. Regardless of motive, Solefald’s first album prompted these sunny individuals to start making death threats from their evil tree-forts and gave rise to the band’s self-proclaimed genre: red music with black edges. The description was just supposed to be an amusing way to convince these pasty-faced individuals to find something else to threaten, but it ended up sticking. In hindsight, it turns out that ‘red music with black edges’ is the perfect way to describe the bands continually evolving blend of black metal and whatever-the-hell-else.It’s no exaggeration to state that over the course of Solefald’s previous six albums they’ve crammed enough random ideas and genres into their black metal foundation that a whole other write-up would be required to hit them all. Suffice it to say that with an ‘anything goes’ attitude some of their ideas have really worked and some have failed miserably. Solefald’s latest album, Norron Livskunst, actually takes a step away from the extreme eccentricity of their previous albums by including a bit of what worked from every previous release and delivering it in a relatively streamlined black metal package. It picks up where the Icelandic Odyssey albums left off by including a bit of subtle folk and focusing on Norway’s past, but eliminates the tedious spoken-word poetic passages. In addition, they’ve taken the Norwegian heritage angle one step further by presenting a majority of the lyrics in an archaic form of Norwegian, called Høgnorsk. With all of the talk of Norwegian folk and streamlined black metal, some may be concerned that the band has lost the eclectic edge that has endeared them to fans, but they have not. Norron Livskunst features the proggy melodies and densely layered vocals of In Harmonia Universali, but in a much more developed form. In fact, Lar’s vocal arrangements are easily some of the most sophisticated and layered of any Solefald album; featuring deep growls, black metal shieks and both male and female singing. They’ve also restored a bit of the black&roll of Pills Against The Ageless Ills, but with more of an emphasis on the black metal part of that pairing. This rock element will often sneak into a song as a fast black metal-style melody slowly transitions towards a groovy riff that is fully-formed before anyone ever realizes the change took place. The biggest point of contention for the average metal listener will be the fact that the band has completely re-embraced the warped, ‘black metal can be fun’ attitude of Neonism. This attitude manifests itself in every song as random tongue-in-cheek elements will flash to the forefront – such as the scatting by guest vocalist Agnete Kjølsrud on “Tittentattenteksti” or the electronica with cowbell of “Vitets Vidd I Verdi”. It also manifests itself in more subtle ways, such as an overtly poppy backing vocal over the main black metal rasp or a dark tremolo-picked lead that suddenly shifts into something stolen from a carnival song....full text |
| Angrymetalguy |
| Solefald is just a cool band and they have been for a long time. I first got into their stuff with the epic Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey which came out in 2005 and that record has maintained a standard place in my discography because of its amazing blending of black metal, progressive metal and rock and unique Norse sounds. While I was not equally as impressed with Black for Death and I’ve been a bit hit or miss on some of the band’s older material, I’ve always appreciated the band’s unique approach to the music they produce and their intensely creative outputs. Nothing they have put out has really disappointed me, it’s just a matter of being more or less into it. This time around, there is absolutely no worry about being into it, however. From the opening strains of “Song Til Stormen” I was completely hooked. Part of this is just because I think that vocalist Lars Nedland’s (Lazare as he’s better known) vocals are just lights out. His harmonies and melodic ideas are completely unique, addictive and stand out on everything he’s involved in. For example, despite not knowing it at the time, the reason I fell for the first Ásmegin record was because of his vocals—and Norrøn Livskunst is no exception to this rule. His vocals and harmonies are as amazing as usual, standing out over everything....full text |
| Lordsofmetal |
| Roel de Haan: Ah! De prettig gestoorde Noren van Solefald hebben weer een nieuw album klaar! ‘Norrøn Livskunst’ (Noorse kunst van het leven) is de naam van het nieuwe werk. Wat voor een rariteitenkabinet hebben Cornelius en Lazare nu weer in elkaar gezet? Welke vreemde dingen staan ons weer te wachten? Zoals altijd van alles en nog wat. Solefald laat op ‘Norrøn Livskunst’ de relatieve uniformiteit van hun IJslandse odyssees ‘Red For Fire’ en ‘Black For Death’ weer achter zich en laveert weer als vanouds in schizofrene composities. Zo zijn opener ‘Song Til Stormen’ en afsluiter ‘Til Heimen Yver Havet’ zalvende, melancholieke romantische nummers waarin dromerige vrouwenzang een prominente rol spelen, maar is bijvoorbeeld ‘Tittentattenteksti’ (ik verzin het niet) gezegend met de volkomen geschifte vocalen van Agnete Kjølsrud (die we recent nog hoorden op ‘Abrahadabra’ van Dimmu Borgir) die een soort kruising van een gremlin en een blije peuter lijkt te vertolken. Gelukkig zingt ze ook op een meer traditionele wijze. Cornelius en Lazare laten overigens de kreunende vocalen achterwege. Ook ‘Stridsljod (Blackabilly)’ is zowel ontzettend catchy als volkomen gestoord. De black metalroots komen op ‘Raudedauden’ terug, terwijl op ‘Eucalyptustreet’ jazz en de saxofoon weer van stal gehaald worden. Zo gebeurd er op een plaat van Solefald zo veel dat men echt niet met een simpele luisterbeurt klaar is, nee… werken voor je muziek zal je! Maar ondertussen is de muziek zo pakkend, strak en onderhoudend dat je dat moeiteloos afgaat. De kracht van Solefald is dan ook dat ze muzikale vernieuwing koppelen aan grijpende en intelligente song-writing dat nummers oplevert die simpelweg verslavend blijken. Na een flink aantal luisterbeurten dringt dan ook langzaam het besef door dat Solefald eigenlijk gewoon geniaal is. Als je het al niet door had: ‘Norrøn Livskunst’ is essentieel....full text |
Solefald lyrics
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