Heaven

Solstafir – Friday 17th November 2017

Posted on by Music Fan

During the interval we got some more liquid refreshments whilst the stage was prepared for Solstafir. Wandering over to the merchandise stand it was quite busy despite being cash only. From it’s position at the back of the venue we were able to see the whole cavernous structure and if trains were rumbling overhead you couldn’t hear them. Also at the back was the largest bar labelled “The G-A-Y bar” and doing a steady trade amongst the black clad metal horde 😊

Solstafir

Solstafir announced their arrival on stage with a video on a backdrop behind the drum kit. However, they strangely made no further use of the video and I thought perhaps they were missing a trick here. Solstafir hail from Iceland and, as with other bands from that island, their music is influenced by the stark nature of the landscape. They begin with the atmospheric track “Silfur-refur” from their latest album “Berdreyminn”, it begins slowly with a simple drum beat and softly strummed guitars before exploding into a maelstrom of thrashing guitars and a fast drum as the vocals cry forth as though in anguish at something or someone. In the middle it calms again as though the eye of the storm is passing before exploding once more as you feel they’re racing to the conclusion. For this we’re standing at the back of the cavern and I quickly realise this isn’t the best place. Annoyingly there are people who seem to think it’s great to talk and whilst I agree it is I disagree that it’s appropriate during someone’s set after all didn’t you pay to see them perform? Perhaps I’m missing something but anyway we wander off to try out the gallery as the band progress into “Otta” their next song.

From a higher vantage point I really thought their drum kit had a massive clock face with hands but overtime I realised that it wasn’t. This early part of the gig is a more relaxed affair with songs more like symphonic ballads telling a story perhaps of life, love, longing and dramatic landscapes. We have been able to move higher still to a good vantage point next to the mixing desk. As I look over I notice the mixing guy keeps trying to find something under the console but must resume what he’s doing as the band keep playing. Then at one point there’s a confused lengthy pause between songs, nothings happening that I can see or hear except some feedback. The lead singer reappears and is telling us something but to me it’s obscured by the feedback. Meanwhile mixing guy is frantically looking for something and eventually asks the guy next to him who discovers what ever it was and the sound immediately clears – ooopss.

Back to the music and Solstafir are delivering a blistering set of hard atmospheric rock and if you close your eyes and open your mind you can picture yourself floating through the rugged yet gorgeously beautiful landscape of their music. To enable that takes very adept and capable musicians, to craft a vision in the audiences’ mind using nothing but sound creating a euphoric experience for all is stunning. They gave us “Kold” which sounded superb resonating from the arches and followed it with “Fjara” which starts slowly but builds to a crescendo reminding myself of a stream turning to a raging torrent of a river once again making me wonder what happened to the video backdrop if one was ever planned.

This has turned out again to be another enjoyable escape from the realities of life outside Heaven 😊 but inside Heaven became a haven for a group of black clad metal heads to enjoy some superb melodic symphonic rock showing we’re not just a circle pit head banging monster. Solstafir end with “Goddess of the ages” which is apt considering the venue and they take a bow before leaving.

My Review Score: 9

Myrkur – Friday 17th November 2017

Posted on by Music Fan

This gig didn’t get off to the best of starts when I received an email announcing the set times early in the week. The promoters had added another support act who were coming on at 18:30, Myrkur at 19:30 and Solstafir at 20:30 with curfew at 22:15. Rather early and very difficult to get to the venue when you work till 18:00!!

Things got worse when the promoter updated the Facebook page to announce revised timings of

18.00 Doors
18.20 Arstoir
19.05 Myrkur
20.15 Solstafir

and on the same day I got an email informing me my tickets would be available for collection from the box office. This seemed to be the same for almost everyone attending judging by the comments on Facebook. At least they refunded me a whole £1 😊 All this because the venue is a night club with a club night following.

So, as I didn’t want to miss Myrkur I took a half day off work but still couldn’t leave home until 16:30. The journey into London was uneventful but the weather was really cold, the first chills of winter arriving in time for our visitors from Iceland. After a quick burger on the station at Marylebone it was a short tube ride to Charing Cross where the venue Heaven is situated.

Heaven is an interesting choice of venue for a gig and even more so perhaps for a metal gig given it’s billing as “the world’s most famous gay night club”, however it is also well known that metal folk are a tolerant bunch and aren’t usually considered conventional either so maybe this was an inspired choice. I’d feared the queue would be long, but we’d arrived after the first act had started. In the queue I bumped into Andy Heintz from “The Men Who Would Not Be Blamed For Nothing” unmistakable in his steampunk outfit. For the first time since they’d started using metal detectors at gigs security knew what my European Pacemaker Card was, so I bypassed the gate and got frisked instead.

Inside it was dark and made darker by the hundreds of black clad metal heads, although I did see one lady in a white t-shirt. Interestingly they had attendants in the toilets but I’m not sure how many men took advantage of the lotions and positions on offer 😉 the club had a feeling of a cavern with arches, in fact reminiscent of a wine cellar reinforced by the fact that each bar had the staff locked in by metal gates! We had missed the first act but managed to get a good central position for Myrkur.

Myrkur

The lights, such as there was, dimmed announcing the imminent arrival on stage of Myrkur. Already waiting like two sentinels were the guitarists almost completely black and hooded adding a menace to the stage presence. Throughout they were like body guards standing either side of Myrkur. Perhaps more pertinently they were gate keepers guarding the gates of the realm from which Myrkur appears given that her name means “darkness” and her latest album Mareridt means “nightmare”. She appears dressed in black to add to the menace of the stage aura and stepping straight to the microphone launches into “Mareridt” the title track of that album. The haunting lyrics and musical instrument quality to her vocal gymnastics at the beginning quieten the crowd immediately. We listen enthralled by her voice and dark backing track with it’s rolling thunder, how is this a nightmare I wonder but then I don’t understand the language of the lyrics, she’s Danish but her stage name Myrkur is Icelandic. At the end she comes to the front to switch on the wind machine which is directed at her microphone stand and swirls her hair and dress adding to the mesmerizing effect as the band launch into the dark bass laden “The Serpent” and the gate keepers become animated and so much more menacing. It is a powerful performance from the whole as the music emphasises the black metal sound making it both dark and brutal. Yet there’s an occasional respite as Myrkur brings, at times, a delicate, sweet soaring voice as though pushing apart the dark curtain draped across the stage. But then, switching to her second microphone, drags it forcefully back as she moves to full throated black metal shrieking. This is demonstrated on the track “Ulvinde” which is sublime and reminds me of a folk tale and on “Maneblot” a much darker aggressive track. Taking influences from Scandinavian folklore and Norse mythology all her songs take you into a dark hall where we resemble the black clad hordes of warriors waiting at the gates of Valhalla. The whole show is one of supreme theatre and totally captivating and helped by the minimal chat between songs it’s reminiscent of a symphony. She ends with a solo, just her angelic voice and a Bodrum.

My review score: 8