A box of records arrived from Iceland the other day, chock full of new releases. I used to be able to more or less keep track of the music coming out of that scene, but today it’s all but impossible – there’s just a metric ton of interesting stuff hitting the streets every single month. While many of the releases are put out locally, others are attracting attention from established labels outside the country, like Italian label Scarlet Records which signed the exciting young metalcore band Duft to a multi-album deal earlier this year.
Duft first came to my attention in 2023 with their five-song cassette Live At Veldið on Iceland’s Ægisbraut Records. The tape is raw, but showed promise. That being said, I’d be lying if I said I expected Duft to follow it with a punch in the face as hard and as what they deliver on Altar Of Instant Gratification. Sure, all the songs on the live debut are also featured here on their studio release. But damn these guys kicked it up more than a few notches with super-tight blast beats, shredding riffs, screams, and growls that are unrelenting, offering you not a moment of respite until that sliver of time between the end of one song and the start of the next.
I did something with this album that I don’t normally do – after playing the record on my stereo, my second listen was via headphones. I suspected there might be some layers I was having a hard time hearing through my speakeres, and I was right. The guitars on “Caved In” sneak a few subtle flourishes into the riffs, taking just the slightest edge off their driving charge forward. The same is true with the fills that momentarily break up the blast beats on “Dragged Across Concrete”. I’m also a sucker for vocal samples, like those at the start of “Waste From Birth”. But have no fear, my friends, these elements don’t change the fact that Duft are coming at you like a runaway freight train full of dynamite and high octane gasoline, ready to explode with just the slightest spark. If I’m picking favorites from the A side, though, I’ll go with the slightly slower and densely heavy “Instant Gratification” with its insistent riffs and the interplay of growled and screamed vocals, which is right up my dark alley. The same is true of the previously mentioned “Waste From Birth”, the vocals bringing a rhythmic cadence that creates a distinct beat and structure to the song, the voice acting as a separate instrument of its own.
The B side opens fast with “Doctrine” as it lurches into black metal territory, the blast beats wired on nitrous and the guitars coming at you like a tornado, but then… shifting into raw heaviness during the second half of the song, the slow, crushing density of a sonic boulder coming to rest right on your chest, the guitars transitioning into some classic metal jams. And don’t even get me started on the smothering “20th Century Doom”, the opening drums like the plodding footsteps of some kind of forbidding behemoth, a Cthulhu horror from the deep that can’t be reasoned with, can’t be stopped, it’s hunger insatiable. It’s definitely one of the high points of Altar Of Instant Gratification and one of the best songs I’ve heard anywhere so far this year.
You can listen to Altar Of Instant Gratification HERE, and also pick up a copy on CD or vinyl if you like. The orange marbled vinyl pressing sounds great, so of course I’m going to suggest you go that route. But with only 300 copies pressed, it might go fast – I suspect Duft will be raise more than a few eyebrows and their star will be on the rise. We’re going to be hearing a lot more from these guys.