Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.05.2019, Síða 28

Music

Of Monsters & Men have
been announced as one of
the headliners of Iceland Air-
waves 2019. A vastly popular pop/rock
band, they were the first Icelandic
band to pass 1 billion plays on Spotify,
beating stars like Sigur Rós, Björk and
Bjarki to this streaming landmark. All
of which suggests that they’ll be a
mainstream attraction and shift some
festival tickets. They’re on sale now—
net yours at icelandairwaves.is.

The 2019 LungA festival is set to be a
blockbuster, with some top names
from the Icelandic scene joining the
bill. We’ll know by then (or even as you
read this) whether our current cover
stars Hatari won Eurovision; either way,
they’re a must-see live band. Breakout
coldwave band Kælan Mikla join them
on the bill alongside our Album of the
Year music award winner GDRN, pop
starlet BRIET, and DIY revolutionaries
bagdad brothers, Goss and Yung Nigo
Drippin. Five bands are yet to be
announced; tickets are on sale now at
lunga.is.
Extreme Chill turns ten this year, and
they’re celebrating in style with a
four-venue downtown festival Sep-
tember 12-15th. Tangerine Dream will
play the anniversary edition at Gamla
Bíó, alongside Eraldo Bernocchi (IT),
Marcus Fischer (US), Hotel Neon (US)
and more. Get tickets at extremechill.
org. The indiest festival of the summer,
however, is definitely Hátiðni, run by
the exciting post-dreifing arts and
music collective, which takes place in
Borðeyri July 5-7th. They’ve announced
the addition of sideproject, Nornagal,
xGADDAVÍRx, Spaðabani, IDK / IDA, and
Ʒɛb ənd Iːwa. Get more info at
post-dreifing.is. JR
MUSIC
NEWS
Writing Death
Metal In Your
Underwear
Behind Devine Defilement’s
debut album “Obliviora”
Words: Phil Uwe Widiger Photo: Patrik Ontkovic
Album
Obliviora’ is out now on Bleeding
Music Records.
It is May 1st and I am meeting the
four members of Devine Defile-
ment in the smoking area of a bar
in downtown Reykjavík. When I get
there, the band are enjoying their
day off with beer and cigarettes, and
all of them greet me with a smile,
which, admittedly, stands in con-
trast to the brutal music on their de-
but album. ‘Obliviora’ was released
at the end of April by the Swedish la-
bel Bleeding Music Records—which
is an impressive acheivement, given
the band only formed around two
years ago.
A night to behold
“I was really drunk,” drummer Ste-
fán tells me about how the band got
its start. “At the time, both me and
Árni [guitarist] were in quite bad
bands. I started to
rant, like ‘I wanna do
something fast and
brutal,’ drunken-
ly—but he took me
literally, and here
were are.”
That same night,
Árni was introduced
to the realm of bru-
tal death metal via the sounds of
Infant Annihilator and Ingested.
“The intensity really got to me,”
says Árni. “So, the next morning,
hungover as shit, I started writing
songs in my underwear.”
Thanks to that productive hang-
over, some songs of Devine Defile-
ment’s debut album were written
even before the band existed. Af-
ter going through several line-up
changes, the band is now complete
with bassist Snorri and vocalist
Ingó. Having just joined the band
earlier this year, Ingó—best known
for the cult doom band Plastic
Gods—is not featured on the album.
“We already added a new song with
my vocals and lyrics to our live set,
though,” he says.
Divine spelling errors
If you’ve read this far into the article
and haven’t been able to shake the
spelling of the band’s name, you’re
not alone.
“I sent the guy who did the origi-
nal logo the name and it was spelled
right. I just want to put that out
there,” laughs Stefán. “But he was
quite fucked up when he made our
logo and we actually didn't catch the
spelling error until a month later.”
The band has now fully embraced
this twist of fate and its origin
story. “Our friend Krummi, from
Mínus, actually thought the name
was about defiling porn stars,” adds
Stefán. For the purposes of this ar-
ticle, the author did some thorough
research and there is, in fact, a porn
actress by the name of Ava Devine.
Sophisticated slam
However, Devine Defilement aren’t
about degrading adult films actors.
Even though the music bears refer-
ences to the subgenre of slam death
metal, the band distance itself from
the genre’s often mi-
sogynist lyrics. “The
lyrics for the album
are sort of about de-
pression, figurative
monsters in the hu-
man sense, and just
evil,” explains Ingó.
“It’s about the dark-
er side of humanity,
I guess. There’s some anti-religious
stuff in there, as well.”
In a way, you could call it sophis-
ticated slam death metal. Can we
make that a thing?
Death metal and
pornogrind
Apart from playing a few shows in
Reykjavík and at Icelandic festivals
like Eistnaflug and Norðanpaunk,
the band was also added to the bill of
the European Perversion Tour as the
only Icelandic band in May with Li-
vidity, Bastard’s Asylum, Sacrificial
Slaughter, and Bowel Evacuation.
“Stay tuned in June,” adds Stefán.
“Because we’re printing some pretty
T-shirts that include our dear friend
Bjarni Ben.”
gpv.is/music
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Some fun guys chilling, before defiling... something
Hatiðni has lazer dogs
Fill your LungA with fresh music
Red and black: cool forever
“The next morn-
ing, hungover
as shit, I started
writing songs in
my underwear.”
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