Endalok are another mysterious Icelandic entity to rear above the volcanic expanses with little regard for any black metal rule book. Adding to the regional sound invoked by bands like Svartidauđi, and MisÞyrming, Endalok are notable for their harsher, lo-fi approach whilst still containing the film scorelike dirges and experimentation that sets Icelandic bands apart.
They summon a monotonous hypnotism with their windswept passages of layered guitars, sparse ritualistic percussion and desperate vocals, which howl from somewhere behind the mix, conjuring images of iron filingfilled storms and icy chasms. Each track has an endlessly immersive quality – length becomes meaningless as the bleakly grandiose tempest shifts together into a hopeless squall. Positioning itself at the higher end of atmospheric Icelandic BM, with a bit more grit than some of Endalok’s occasionally self-indulgent counterparts, Úr Draumheimi Viđurstyggđar accomplishes more in its 24 minutes than many of the band’s well-established countrymen.
