Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2019, Qupperneq 31

Music 31The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 11— 2019
Album
Download the album at
andavald.bandcamp.com
Black metal supergroup Andavald
dropped their debut, ‘Undir skyg-
gðarhaldi,’ earlier this month,
capping three years of work. It’s
an imposing monolith of a black
metal album—one designed to
beat you down with no hope of
help or return. To learn more, we
sat down with Magnús Schram,
main composer of the group, and
his brothers in arms to go through
the release track by track.

I. Forspil
‘Forspil’ technically means an
intro to a song, not an intro to an
album. This song was actually not
supposed to be on ‘Undir skyg-
gðarhaldi.’ It was just an intro we
made quickly for a concert. The
piano part was recorded onto a
cell phone on an old dilapidated
piano in our rehearsal space. Þórir
Óskar Björnsson from Dulvitund
then worked some magic around
it and it came out great. We put it
on the album because it provided a
framework for it.

II. Afvegaleiðsla
It’s hard to put abstract thoughts
into words, especially into Eng-
lish, but this album is like a jour-
ney, so each song is like a leg or a
landmark. The first leg, ‘Afvega-
leiðsla,’ is about being led astray,
moving off the beaten track and
into unchartered, hellish dimen-
sions. The title is a play on words.
It means being led astray, but
could also mean trance.

III. Hugklofnun
The second leg of the journey,
‘Hugklofnun,’ is about being torn
apart mentally and physical, los-
ing touch with reality, losing your
sanity, and surrendering yourself
to a higher power. The title refers
to being cleaved in two, but it’s
really a word play about split per-
sonalities. The vocals on this song
are very intense. Axel, our lead
singer, took it all the way with
his insane, manic laughter, and
there’s nothing fake about it. He
actually ended up in the hospital
after recording it.
See, there were many obsta-
cles when recording this album.
Making it was a torturous three-
year process and in it, we opened
up a gate to something that we
don’t understand. At least three
of us lost our jobs and everybody
lost their minds. We suffered
financially, socially and mentally.
Mostly mentally. Andavald is not
an easy-listening experience. It’s
definitely not for everyone. For us
to surround ourselves with it for
long periods of time took its toll.

IV. Undir skyggðarhaldi
The final leg is about being
chained up in a nightmarish
realm, yearning for salvation but
finding no way out. That’s the
essence of the whole album. ‘Un-
dir skyggðarhaldi’ means being
under a spell of darkness, being
the captive of a shadowy presence.
There is an outro on the album,
but this is really the last song and
it’s not the end. The album doesn’t
have an end. It’s a journey, and you
come to this song and you are un-
der the spell but you don’t escape
it. Hopefully, the next album will
snap you out of it.

V. Eftirspil
This is an outro that Dulvitund
made. He just sent a file with,
“Here’s something you can prob-
ably kill yourself to.” The conclu-
sion was ‘Eftirspil.’ It’s a dreary
epilogue to future journeys.
TRACK BY TRACK
Andavald -
‘Undir Skyggðarhaldi’
Journey into a hellish dimension and pray you get back
Words: Andavald & Hannah Jane Cohen Photo: Berglind Petra Garðarsdóttir
gpv.is/music
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“At least
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AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
2019