Sólstafir at O2 Islington - November 2024 TPA banner

Sólstafir / Oranssi Pazazu / Hamferð

O2 Islington, London
Sunday, 24th November 2024
Hamferð

Hamferð at O2 Islington - November 2024

The cave-like interior of the O2 Islington is bathed in red light as the slowly growing crowd await Faroese black metal band Hamferð, the first of three bands at tonight’s celebration of all things Norse, and metal. Before you ask, I know Finland, home of Oranssi Pazazu, isn’t traditionally Norse, but let’s give it honorary membership for one night! Officially, this tour goes under the banner “Nordic Descent”, so that clears up any dispute, I trust!

The sound of the Atlantic battering the band’s remote windswept homeland serves as an appropriate intro tape for Hamferð, whose six members, all clad in black, launch into opener Í hamferð, and the black symphony begins.

Hamferð at O2 Islington - November 2024

Singer Theodor Kapnas is stage centre and his impressive alto is aided and abetted by Jón Aldará, stage right as we look, a slight figure, whose earth-rumbling growls belie his stature. The growling is minimal and shared between the two vocalists. It is done for effect, and Theodor’s “normal” singing voice soars and swoops, like the heavy storm-swell of the Atlantic ocean. The guy has a fabulous set of pipes!

Hamferð at O2 Islington - November 2024

The two guitarists send out low end sonics from the sea floor, while Victor Brandt on the bass guitar, looking every inch the Nordic god, and apparently a temporary replacement for this tour, is excavating subsonics from beneath the Earth’s crust. Keyboard player Esmar Joensen is playing a Nord Wave synth, appropriately enough!

Musically it is highly dramatic fare that keeps to a stately rhythm as the giant strides over the cold near-barren hills through a deluge of black rain and a howling gale. A song in the middle of the set sees the beast let loose and foreboding fills the air. This sort of thing is not my usual fare, but witnessing this live is something else, transportive, even!

Hamferð at O2 Islington - November 2024[Photos Istvan Bruggen]

SETLIST:
Í hamferð
Marrusorg
Glæman
Hon syndrast
Ábær
Hvølja
Evst

MUSICIANS:
Theodor Kapnas – Guitar, Vocals
Jón Aldará – Guitar, Vocals
Eyðun í Geil Hvannastein – Guitar
Esmar Joensen – Keyboards
Remi Kofoed Johannesen – Drums
Victor Brandt – Bass Guitar

LINKS: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | X | Instagram


Oranssi Pazazu

Oranssi Pazuzu at O2 Islington - November 2024

A short break, and my companion and I have retreated to the back of the venue, as discretion wins out over valour! The stage is then graced by Finnish avant-metal kingpins Oranssi Pazazu, a band I never imagined I would see live. Electronic pulsing begins Bioalkemisti, the first track from their fab new waxing Muuntautuja, and a punky bass riff that Jaz Coleman would be proud of propels this thing out of the gates at a pace. Something of a contrast to Hamferð!

Guitarist Ikon throws himself around in a frenzy, attacking his guitar like he was cage fighting a black bear. Drummer Korjak drives this truck along in tandem with Ontto the bassist, and cosmic embellishments are supplied by keyboard player Evil. The bass is subsonic and terrifying, adding to the weird vibe this strange bunch exude. It’s all wonderful, of course!

Oranssi Pazuzu at O2 Islington - November 2024

I discovered this band about four years ago, hiding under a stone at the far end of TPA Acres, and I bought their then current album Mestarin kynsi and was instantly hooked, and seeing them live reminds me why. Synth squiggles permeate new album title track Muuntautuja, as it lurches along menacingly. Singer Jun-His is now growling tormentedly. Further on, and Ikon has moved over to another synth console, which is set up facing Evil, and the soundtrack is alien in extremis. Marvellous!

Ontto is now in mortal combat with his instrument as well, the cage fighting beasties have escaped! Evil’s keyboard rig is now making noises that sound like an avalanche of broken toys, as an intro to a tune in a very odd meter, that bounces along dementedly. Strangely, the slight headache I arrived with has now gone. I think it got scared.

Oranssi Pazuzu at O2 Islington - November 2024

Deep space noises accompanied by an insistent lightly tapped snare conjure up visions of a hellbound train, and sure enough it bursts out of an atramentous tunnel, spitting hot coals through volcanic turbulence, and making a rather fine cacophonous racket into the bargain. My shiny new fillings, the result of a complete gnasher refit over the previous three weeks (eek!) were rattling, but there really is no other way to listen to this than LOUD! Credit is due to the sound guy or gal, as it was loud but clear all night. Next up is Valotus, a molten river of justified and ancient aural lava, that solidifies into a gigantic cosmic warhammer of vengeance!

Later, the Oranssis briefly venture down a more traditional metal route, but the pounding bass retains its punky chops, and the keyboard is still supplying weird noises off. It’s metal Kimi, but not as we know it. The tune breaks down and something akin to a Syd-Pink Floyd soundscape circa 1967 spirals off into the Crab Nebula, as a build up to last number Vasemman käden hierarkia, an interstellar scrap metal crusher, coming for YOUR bones.

Oranssi Pazuzu at O2 Islington - November 2024[Photos Istvan Bruggen]

Oranssi Pazazu are really beyond defining, so “Avant” fits rather well. The singer’s anguished vocalising makes the question/accusation “…but, can he hold a tune?” as uttered by the uncomprehending, an irrelevance. Sometimes, noise is all you need. Not for the symphonic neo prog fan, I’d imagine, but I think they’re fkin fabulous!

SETLIST:
Bioalkemisti
Kuulen ääniä maan alta
Muuntautuja
Uusi teknokratia
Valotus
Hautatuuli
Vasemman käden hierarkia

MUSICIANS:
Jarkko “Korjak” Salo – Drums
Ville “Evil” Leppilahti – Keyboards, Vocals
Toni “Ontto” Hietamäki – Bass Guitar, Vocals
Juho “Jun-His” Vanhanen – Vocals, Guitars
Niko “Ikon” Lehdontie – Guitars

LINKS: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | X | Instagram


Sólstafir

Sólstafir at O2 Islington - November 2024

Can you guess that Oranssi Pazazu were the band I came to see? I admit I knew nothing about Sólstafir until about two weeks ago, and yes, I have done a bit of homework. Let’s see what impression they make!

A 75% behatted Sólstafir appear out of the gloom onstage, looking like a bunch of Icelandic cowboys. They play 78 Days In The Desert, a tune with a driving rhythm supplied by drummer Ari Steinarsson, who is the only one not sporting headgear. From the off the headliners establish their more melodic, yet still heavy take on metal noir. Apparently, Sólstafir play “post-metal”. Whatever happened to the days when music in record shops was either “Pop” or “Underground”?!

For all the genre minutae, riffs are Sólstafir’s thing, and second song Silfur-Refur also has a very catchy vocal melody, even if it is in Icelandic! The singer is singing in a strangulated near-growl that suits the tune to a tee.

Sólstafir at O2 Islington - November 2024

A simpler set up – two guitarists, one of whom is the singer, bass, and drums – than the previous two bands lends itself to the less complicated, but nonetheless entertaining music coming off the stage. The near capacity crowd has actually thinned out a bit since Oranssi Pazazu, and whether that’s due to Sunday transport shenanigans or the fact that Sólstafir play a more commercial music than the previous two bands is moot.*

The band are obviously enjoying themselves, and singer Addi, now sans hat, is prowling about the stage inspecting his troops, as the band lock into the solid four-square rhythm. The problem I’m having is that while the two supports were adventurous, dare I say progressive, Sólstafir’s songs are very melodically and rhythmically similar, and rarely if ever break out of 4/4 time, especially so in the middle of the set which plateaus in this fashion for quite a while. Oh well, the crowd seem to like it, and you can’t enthuse over everything, even as an amateur journalist, contrary to the impression we might give on these pages sometimes.

Sólstafir at O2 Islington - November 2024

Having said all that, things liven up a bit with a song full of blast beats that ups the ante considerably. This last third of the set seems considerably heavier, probably songs from earlier in their career. To be honest, it’s more engaging. To give Sólstafir due credit they do know how to please a crowd. They even whip up a bit of audience participation during the penultimate number, underlining their more commercial approach. Nowt wrong with that actually, and it’s good to see a bill of such variations in styles, which just goes to show how fractured the metal scene is nowadays. The other two bands were far more aloof, but then again their music didn’t lend itself to singalongs!

Rather than walk off stage, and return for nominal encore, the singer explains they may as well stay where they were, and they launch into the mini-epic Goddess Of The Ages, and the more enthusiastic of the two-thirds of the previously full house that were left headbang appropriately.

All in all, a fine night’s entertainment.

*It turns out that Storm Bert was raging outside, causing transport mayhem! So much so in fact that when I wake the next morning, a text message alert tells me that my destination railway station is underwater!

Sólstafir at O2 Islington - November 2024[Photos Istvan Bruggen]

SETLIST
78 Days In The Desert
Silfur-Refur
Blakkrakki
Svartir sandar
Ljós í stormi
Hún andar
Fjara
Hin Helga Kvöl
Ritual Of Fire
Ótta
Goddess Of The Ages

MUSICIANS
Aðalbjörn “Addi” Tryggvason – Guitar, Vocals
Svavar “Svabbi” Austmann – Bass
Sæþór Maríus “Pjúddi” Sæþórsson – Guitar
Ari Steinarsson – Drums, Backing Vocals

LINKS
Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | X | Instagram