The initial incarnation of Celestine tore their way through Iceland in the late 2000s/early 2010s, giving us a single, an EP, and two albums of in-your-face metalcore before breaking up in 2013. A compilation CD came out two years later with a few previously unreleased bonus tracks, but that was it for a while. A new song, “Detriment”, hit YouTube! in 2019, and it eventually became the title track for the band’s new record, their first physical release in nearly a decade. And let me tell you, Detriment was worth the wait.
With six songs, only one of which lasts more than three minutes, you might be tempted to feel a bit short-changed. But have no fear, my friends, because Celestine take an all-killer-no-filler approach on Detriment – it’s exactly the amount of pounding and shredding your ears can handle. “As It Clouds” blasts out of the gate, machine gun drums and heavy riffs filling the sonic spectrum, the hardcore-style vocals ripping through it all. The title track shows that vocalist Ómar Örn isn’t just a one-trick, growling pony, but instead can also sing, and the two approaches combine perfectly on “Catharsis”, the vocals doubled and the animalistic rumble bubbling under the more melodic approach. After a handful of plays I find myself coming back to closer, “Contaminate / Contain”, its sludgier guitars giving it a sense of mass (in the scientific, not religious, sense) and density.
You can check out Detriment on the Celestine Bandcamp page HERE as well as on Spotify (and probably a few other streaming services as well). As for tracking down a vinyl copy, well, that might be a bit more work as I don’t see it being offered on Bandcamp. It is currently being sold by Reykjavik’s Lucky Records HERE, but beyond that you might have to work for it, though I suspect it’s available at the venue Gaukurinn too, as it was released on the club’s own and relatively new label.