Reykjavík Grapevine - jun. 2023, Side 27

27 Music
Filthy Interview The Main-
land Is Shaking
False Majesty’s Deathcore From The
Islands
Track By Track Fragments
Virgin Orchestra’s Sonically Packed Debut
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WORDS Francesca Stoppani
IMAGE Jenny Retschkowski
Iceland is trembling and the epi-
center is the Westman Islands. How-
ever, it’s not an earthquake causing
the rumble; it’s the sound of amps
blasting deathcore. For this edition
of the Filthy Interview series, I had a
virtual sit down with False Majesty
drummer Skæringur Óli Þórarinsson
and guitarist Trausti Mar Sigurðar-
son.
AGE IS OVERRATED
The majority of False Majesty’s
members have been playing togeth-
er in the local music scene for more
than 15 years. They’re adults, most
with children of their own, who want-
ed a hobby outside their daily lives.
They began talking about forming
the band in 2017 and, in 2020, they
had their first official practice. 
False Majesty’s lineup was complete
when Trausti joined as the vocalist
last summer, solidifying their sound
and drastically lowering the average
age of the band. Trausti also plays
in another Westman Islands metal
band, Merkúr. “The age difference
is quite big in False Majesty, but the
band experience itself is not too far
off from being in Merkúr,” Trausti
says, explaining that while Merkúr
aims to be as “headbangable as
possible,” False Majesty’s focus is on
melody and technical skill.
FROM FIRE, REBORN
“The local music scene in the West-
man Islands is small but growing,”
says Skæringur. “It has its own local
legends and had around 40 active
bands around 15 years ago.” Unfor-
tunately, a major setback occurred
when the main rehearsal space in a
fish factory burned down. But a reviv-
al is underway.
Skæringur explains that the band
has always been drawn towards
technical and complex music be-
cause it requires skill and effort. This
focus on technique was an unspoken
agreement among the band mem-
bers. Some of their biggest influenc-
es include bands like Slaughter to
Prevail, Archspire and Lorna Shore.
SHORT LIFE, GREAT AC-
COMPLISHMENTS
False Majesty took part in this year’s
Wacken Metal Battle, where they
faced off against this year’s winners
Krownest. Skæringur and Trausti
were humbled to learn in a previous
interview that Krownest was intimi-
dated by them. “We are so amazed
to hear that, especially consider-
ing False Majesty’s relatively short
presence in the scene.” In fact, their
Wacken set was only their second
time performing with Trausti on
vocals.
WELCOMED WITH OPEN
ARMS
Being from a small island and having
to take a boat to reach the mainland
adds an extra level of excitement
and hype to their performances. “We
have never been excluded because
we are not from the capital area,“
Skæringur says. They are, however,
exploring the possibility of hosting
gigs on the Westman Islands and
inviting the whole Reykjavík scene
to come cliff-swinging their black
hearts out. “We have the perfect
venues on the islands. We would love
to set up a stage inside of one of the
volcanic craters,” says Skæringur,
dead serious.
False Majesty has an upcoming gig
at Gaukurinn alongside Epidermal
Veil, Slor and Sóðaskapur on June
10. They also have their sights set on
the Reykjavík Death Fest in Septem-
ber.
Have you already saved the date for
June 10? Then, see you at Gaukurinn.
If not, see you in hell. You can stay up
to date with False Majesty’s on their
Instagram page, @falsemajestyband
WORDS Virgin Orchestra
IMAGE Supplied by Virgin Or-
chestra
Released on May 12 via
Smekkleysa, Fragments is Virgin Or-
chestra’s debut album. Exhibiting a
range of influences from post-punk
to trip-hop, the album is “sonically
packed,” in one band member’s own
words. Virgin Orchestra walked us
through their newest release track
by track.
INTRO
This song was born out of an im-
provised jam session. We created a
drum loop and just started playing
the first thing that came to mind on
top of it. It soon turned into a song
that’s constantly expanding and
gets louder and more aggressive
the longer it goes.
OFF GUARD
Most songs on the album were
written while we were in separate
countries since Stefanía spent the
first half of 2022 in Berlin as an
exchange student. This song was
written in many different places.
Stefanía sent the original demo
from Berlin and Starri worked on it
in Barcelona and Glasgow and Rún
worked on it in Reykjavík.
ON YOUR KNEES
One of the first songs we ever wrote
together back in the very early days
of the band. We had talked about
writing an album that was influenced
by wartime and horror as a critique
on the world today but this is kind
of the only track that kept that initial
idea as the rest of the tracks be-
came more abstract.
GIVE IN
This song went through many trans-
formations before we settled on a
structure we liked. Similar to “on
your knees,” this was written before
Rún was in the band, but her strings
really elevated them. It gave us the
missing piece of the puzzle that the
songs needed. The vocals and lyrics
are very early one-take and impro-
vised but we liked how free it felt so
we decided to keep it.
BOND
The title of this song comes from
the fact that something about the
chord progression and build-up of
the song reminded us of a Bond
theme. When we were recording the
album, this was the song we spent
the most time on by far as we just
kept on recording more and more
layers using various instruments and
gadgets available to us at the studio.
A sonically packed song.
SKIN
The most minimalistic song on the
album. This song was mostly written
in our hotel room in Berlin a couple
of weeks before we went into the
studio. Writing it in that setting and
under those circumstances had a
big impact on the raw, stripped back
nature the song took on. Stefanía
only finished writing the lyrics five
minutes before recording the vocals
at the studio. Not because we were
slacking, but because it just felt
somehow right to finish the lyrics at
the last moment to channel some
kind of rawness and “in the moment
feeling.”
REWIND
This song came together remark-
ably fast. Stefanía wrote the synth,
drum loop and sampled bits from an
old Gloria Ann Taylor song and im-
mediately we just got so many ideas
for what we could do. We just start-
ed writing with full force. The quiet
ambient ending was partially born at
the studio and we loved how it just
kept on and on. No decisions had
been made about how to end it. We
had access to an old tape delay at
the studio, so we recorded a bunch
of cello and the synths through
that which created this warbly and
dreamy soundscape.