Over the past few years, Iceland has been low-key pumping out some of the filthiest jams in all of extreme metal, with banner albums by Carpe Noctem, Svartidauði and Misþyrming leading the way. Call us crazy, but it sounds like there’s something about life on a subpolar island teeming with murderous volcanos that breeds a unique brand of darkness in its musically-inclined inhabitants…especially those who count sonic alchemists like Deathspell Omega and Gorguts as primary influences.
Enter Zhrine, a Reykjavik-based band that’s a couple of months away from releasing their debut LP, Unortheta, on Season of Mist. Formerly known as Gone Postal, they’re the latest revelation in a burgeoning scene that worships equally at the altars of ambient reverie and technical mind-fuckery. Check out the exclusive premiere of their track “Spewing Gloom” below—it’s a churning black/death vortex that melds the disgusting atonality of DsO with the oppressively frigid atmosphere of Svartidauði (guitarist Nökkvi Gylfason is a member), complete with a fetid dusting of sludge as a sickening after-dinner mint.
Here’s what Zhrine have to say about the song:
“As the seductive passage of the album intro fades into the ether, we build towering mountains of atonal onslaught that seethe, churn and crumble your senses away at the opus that is ‘Spewing Gloom.’”
Unortheta is out April 8 on Season of Mist. You can preorder here.
