We covered Óreiða on our Demo:listen column back in September 2016, when we called their demo “a weird and fascinating journey worth taking again and again.” Since their demo tape, Óreiða has remained consistent in their output of likewise captivating releases. Following the band’s first demo came Démo II, then a split with Portuguese black metal band Holocausto em Chamas. Now the Icelandic black metal shadow will release its debut full length.

Adorned by a simple photograph of the calm sea beneath a misty horizon, Óreiða immediately prove that they are continuing down the path they started down with their first release. On Óreiða, their four song self-titled debut album, all the fascinating details are found in the music itself. Eerie melodies beckon you toward blinding tremolo storms where relentless black metal enfolds you into a sense of calm that feels almost like weightlessness. In a genre mired in tradition and thronged by lifeless clones, Óreiða already stands out as a singular work of art.

“I went through a long process of writing and recording music, adding new elements until I ended up with something I didn’t like at all,” writes the musician behind Óreiða. “I started cutting everything down, simplifying the songwriting and the arrangements. I started focusing on layers and atmosphere above anything else. Favoring the emotional over the intellectual. As well as the obvious influences (Darkthrone, Ildjarn, Paysage d’Hiver) I was looking to things like the drone works of Coil and Nurse With Wound and the stark, obscene minimalism of Vomir as inspiration. The goal was to find the intersection where second wave black metal, noise and drone music collide. My aim wasnt creating something new but something rooted in traditions that people can connect to even if just a few.”