I buy a lot of Icelandic music. Like, a lot. I come home from Iceland Airwaves each year with a suitcase full of records, tapes, and CDs, and I regularly stalk new releases on Bandcamp to order direct from labels and bands. I even get in on crowdfunding via Karolina Fund, which is kind of the Icelandic version of GoFundMe or Kickstarter. But perhaps my main source of Icelandic sonic gems is Reykjavik’s Lucky Records – I order two or three boxes of stuff from them each year.
A few weeks ago my first “Lucky Box” of 2024 arrived, chock full of interesting albums. One that I was particularly looking forward to was the self-released 2xLP debut by the doom/sludge metal band Slor titled Journey To The Space Temple. And after one play I felt like I needed to know more about these guys, so I reached out on Facebook and they graciously agreed to answer a few questions.
Please introduce yourselves and tell us how Slor came together.
“The members are Hafþór Magnússon on guitar and vocals, Jökull Örlygsson on bass and Engilbert Norðfjörð on drums. We met at the local bar, found out we liked the same kind of music and kinda just started playing together. Simple beginnings.”
The four songs on Journey To The Space Temple are long – the shortest clock in at just over 11 minutes, and two break the 20 minute barrier. What is the writing process like for songs this long?
“We have always had long songs with variety of riffs. Experimentation with sound and soundscapes evolved over time. For songs on this album we used to jam around riffs, and with time we had a structure for songs and then a full LP album. In the studio we had some improvised jam sessions that became a part of the songs.”
Is there any kind of overarching theme or story connecting the four songs on Journey To The Space Temple?
“The concept of the songs are intertwined lyrically, however they each hold their own story like four individual chapters in the same universe.”
When performing live do the songs maintain a similar length and flow to the recorded versions, or do you have shorter (or even longer!) versions for the stage?
“They usually stay the same or similar length but it can vary on our sets. Some riffs could be longer/shorter or a little slower/faster with maybe a hint of improv also depending on our dynamic that night.”
What artists are you listening to a lot right now? Who else should we be checking out?
“Some of the stuff we have been checking out lately are bands like Ocean Chief, Goya, Slodder, and Mr.Phylzzz for example. Shoutout to Icelandic acts Graveslime, Morpholith, Plastic God, Godchilla, Ultra Magnus, and Kvelja.”
Slor certainly put out a great package for their self-released Journey To The Space Temple. The cover is cool as hell and simultaneously gives off ancient and futuristic vibes. The packaging is gatefold, giving us even more room for art on the inside, and they served the music well by pressing on two records with one song on each of the four sides. It would have been easy to add some extra material given that two of the sides are less than 12 minutes long, but I respect them keeping it to the four songs they wanted to be part of this release.
The album opens with the slow and heavy riff that ushers in “Becoming the Night Sky”, driving, pounding, flattening the earth before it like the footsteps of a plodding behemoth. The vocals join quickly, soaring and dripping with psychedelia, trying to break the surface and stay above the relentless sonic barrage. The first shift doesn’t come for a full six minutes, but even when it does the bass and drums continue their unstoppable journey, only the guitar breaking out and rising above it all in an electrically-charged cloud of fuzz and distortion before everything is back in lockstep again, moving forward, an unstoppable wall of sound. Our ears are given a momentary reprieve about 15 minutes in, the riff giving way and the music pulling us below the surface like a lazy vortex, down and down, further and further into the darkness and crushing depths before the churn pushes your body back to the top where you bob upon the riff, exhausted. The start of the B side “Ancient Builders” makes it clear you should not expect a reprieve. There will be no rest found here, only heaviness. But then things get… well… trippy, man. Like, really trippy, pulsing, warbling, echoing through space and time like a radar wave seeking something solid to reflect off of so it can begin its return journey and hit you right between the eyes.
The second record opens with the percolating intro to “Frequency 8”, big blue bubbles of wah-wah languidly rising before your eyes before… being absolutely crushed under the sheer mass of a riff, leaving the bubbles nothing more than viscous stains on its surface as it begins its inevitable and unceasing journey, a siren’s wail warning of its impending arrival and destruction. The guitar eventually breaks free, launching itself skyward into the blackness of space like a beacon. Is it a lament, or a warning? We can’t be sure. An electric signal fire in the darkness, one that doesn’t so much cast light around it but instead burns hot and straight like a laser. On the flip side “Journey to the Space Temple” brings the funk. Like, two metric tons of funk. The vocals echo… echo… echo… out into the void, stretched tight before springing back again. This later gives way to a martial riff, replacing the early smoothness with rigidity and hard angles, only to devolve again, this time becoming a roiling psychedelic primordial soup at the end of time.
“Becoming the Night Sky” is on Slor’s Bandcamp page HERE, but as of this post the entire album is not yet available there. The entire album can, however, be streamed on Spotify, and probably some other platforms, so you should be able to track it down. Of course I recommend picking it up on vinyl if you can find it.