Smári Tarfur has been flying under the radar in my record collection for a decade or more. The multi-instrumentalist was formerly part of Quarashi and Hot Damn and Spitsign, all of who have albums and tracks on my shelves. And that doesn’t include his releases as Led By A Lion, Son Of The Wind, and Smeriglio del Toro. And as if that wasn’t enough, last year he also joined Icelandic scene OGs thrash metallers Bootlegs. Folk… rock… hip hop… metal…. Smári does it all.
One of his most recent projects is Patronian, partnering with bassist Pierre Dolinique and drummer Benjamín Bent Árnason (who has also performed with Duft). “Hailing from a secluded village surrounded by strong winds and crashing waves, Patronian with their focused, yet brutal songwriting, have found their own place in the world of death metal where bonecrushing riffs and shrill evil growls run rampant,” we’re told on Bandcamp. The trio’s debut album, Stabbed With Steel, was released digitally back in 2022, and I have to admit I missed it at the time. Fortunately for me a couple of months ago it got its first physical release, a numbered edition of 100 records in a nice gatefold jacket, a copy of which traveled across the cold Atlantic to make its way to me.
The half dozen tracks comprising Stabbed With Steel (with the exception of the beautiful quietness of “Interlude,” as mentioned below) aren’t simply heavy, they have a density about them – they’re weightier than what you’re expecting, solid and unmoving, unrelenting, the theoretical immovable object but in sonic form, the sound waves given a twisting physicality reminiscent of steel cables. We’re hit in the face with it right out of the gate on the title track. Why… do I… have to die? the vocalist asks, not in pleading way, but instead as someone resigned to his fate… and the revenge that will follow – yet I will return, then you shall burn. The bass and drums provide the structure, the guitars the shape, and the vocals the story as we angrily travel through tales of death and destruction and revenge.
While Stabbed With Steel is most definitely a death metal album, other influences sneak in as well, particularly in the guitar riffs. “The Voice Within” opens heavy and sludgy, the rasped vocals telling us that you trying to run, run from me, won’t save yoooouuuuuu, and of the singer’s tremendous desire to kill, and that’s before we even get to the your throat I’ll slash from side to side part, which is all very on point. But when the riffs kick in at 2:50… we start with metal before pivoting into an unexpected blues-rock solo jam as good as anything you’d find on any classic rock record. That leads us right into the brief, acoustic “Interlude,” the guitar plucked in a quiet Spanish style, not quite flamenco, but beautifully simple and intricate at the same time, a bit of a palette cleanser before we barrel headlong into the 15-minute closing epic, “The Great Western Friendkill,” pounding us right into the grave.
Stabbed With Steel is available for streaming and digital purchase on Bandcamp HERE. It looks like the vinyl, sadly, is sold out, so you’ll have to cast a wider net to find a copy (you can, as of this writing, still get it from Reykjavik’s Lucky Records HERE). This feels destined to become a cult classic, so you might want to grab a copy while you can.