{"id":52486,"date":"2016-07-27T11:00:54","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T16:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=52486"},"modified":"2016-07-26T22:56:03","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T03:56:03","slug":"none-more-black-black-metal-adventures-in-iceland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/none-more-black-black-metal-adventures-in-iceland\/","title":{"rendered":"None More Black: Black Metal Adventures in Iceland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bare wi\u00fe me, I\u2019ll get to the Black Metal in a minute. About a year ago, I was persuaded by a friend to run an Ultramara\u00feon in Iceland. It didn\u2019t take much persuasion as I\u2019m a bit of a sucker for some pain and suffering, and Iceland was slowly edging its way to the top of the list of my places to visit next. An ultramara\u00feon is any footrace longer than a traditional mara\u00feon (26.2 miles or 42.2 kilometers) and the particular one on the table was the Laugavegur Ultra Mara\u00feon<\/a>, which is 55km long and includes a total ascent of about 1900 meters and a total descent of about 2200 meters. Sounds fun, eh? The run is set in one of the most scenically beautiful areas of Iceland and it follows the renowned Landmannalaugar to \u00de\u00f3rsm\u00f6rk trail. It usually takes hikers about 4 to 5 days to complete the trail, but some of the crazy runners out there can do it in about 4.5 hours.<\/p>\n

Now, any of you that have been involved in any distance running will know that the race day is the least of your worries. The real struggle, and where I get the most enjoyment, is the preparation. Just to give you an idea, in order to run one of these \u00feings, I would need to build up my running to about 50-60 miles a week so that I would be able to perform at level that I\u2019d be satisfied wi\u00fe. More competitive runners would be running about 80-100 miles per week. The reason that I mention all of this is because during this preparation period, I GOT FUCKING INJURED! Just after I ran the New York Mara\u00feon, I started to develop a mild case of plantar fasciitis and being the stubborn idiot that I am, I didn\u2019t listen to my body and carried on running. This eventually resulted in a 5mm tear to my left plantar fascia and rendered the chances of me doing the race, null and void.<\/p>\n

For the last six mon\u00fes, I\u2019ve been a moody bastard, trying to stay away from running people and running talk, and \u00ferowing my Runner\u2019s World subscription straight in the blue bin just as soon as it arrives in the mail. I even contemplated not going at all as I was getting so depressed being surrounded by lifelovers talking about running this and running that. Fortunately, at the eleven\u00fe hour my wife talked me into going and so it was, I found myself in Iceland trying to avoid the rest of the running group and trying to find some\u00feing else to do while they were all off running.<\/p>\n

Priority number one, Black Fucking Metal. What\u2019s the first \u00feing that you do when arrive in a strange land and want to find out where to see some live shows? You go to the public library, that\u2019s what. Well, not exactly. You see, there aren\u2019t a ton of public ba\u00ferooms in Reykjavik, so while I was wandering around, I copped sight of the library and \u00feought I\u2019d go inside to use the facilities. Feeling suitably relieved, I noticed a man leafing \u00ferough some vinyl (they loan vinyl here) and approached him to see what he knew about venues. He reliably informed me that I should check out H\u00farra<\/a><\/em>, Gaukurinn<\/a> <\/em>and Dillon<\/a>.<\/em> Wi\u00fe my spirits lifted I got on the free wi-fi (which is everywhere in Iceland), and while these were all great suggestions, there was no\u00feing on that I was remotely interested in. Dammit! Later that evening while crying in my beer at the Mikkeller bar (not because I was disheartened but because of the price of the beer), I got chatting to the bartender about my Black Metal hunt, and he said that although he didn\u2019t know the kind of music that was being played, he\u2019d heard that there was some\u00feing going on at the Kex Hostel the following Saturday. After quickly finding the hostel\u2019s Facebook<\/a> page, I struck gold! Kex Hostel was hosting KEXPORT 2016 on July 16\u00fe (race day), and guess who was on the bill? Mis-fuckin-\u00feyrming, that\u2019s who. S\u00f6ngvar elds\u00a0go\u00a0\u00f3rei\u00f0u <\/em>is one of my top 10 albums of 2015.\u00a0I couldn\u2019t contain my excitement and went and ordered ano\u00feer \u00feousand-dollar beer. Those of you that follow Black Metal will know that Iceland is a veritable hotbed of activity wi\u00fe it\u2019s molten lands spewing fire and brimstone on what seems like a weekly basis, and along wi\u00fe Svartidau\u00f0i<\/strong> and Sinmara<\/strong>, Mis\u00feyrming<\/strong> are responsible for some of these tectonic shifts.<\/p>\n

\"ToH2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For the next few days, the wife and I pottered around Iceland enjoying all that the country has to offer before returning back to Reykjavik for her to do the race and for me to enjoy more of what the country has to offer. KEXPORT 2016 is a free<\/em> music festival that features twelve bands in twelve hours and highlights Icelandic music of all shapes and sizes. It\u2019s truly exceptional that a country wi\u00fe a population of a little over 300,000 has such a creative glut that they can put on some\u00feing like this. But, and there is a but, free<\/em> music festivals are usually terribad for people like me. Firstly, there\u2019s all this music that I don\u2019t know what to do wi\u00fe. Hip-hop<\/a>, RnB<\/a>, Eurodancesome\u00feingorother<\/a>. What am I supposed to do wi\u00fe this? Secondly, there are all these people that I don\u2019t know what to do wi\u00fe. Free music festivals just drag out all the causals that would rather stand and chat wi\u00fe their mates than enjoy the music. And worse than that, they bring their kids. I can\u2019t count the number of times I was hit with a stroller. Anyway, after drinking a few beers and watching the first few bands I decided to head back to the apartment where I was staying and have a little snooze.<\/p>\n

\"ToH3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At about 7pm, I awoke from my slumber and made my way back to the venue for a burger, more beer, and to await the main event. I know that the Swiss are famous for their timing, but you could also set your watch by the event organizer\u2019s timing. As soon as Singapore Sling finished their set, four gentlemen clad in hoodies and covered in soot (or was that volcanic ash) made their way onto the stage and started setting up. Although the venue was pretty full, nobody wanted to get too close to the stage, making it relatively easy to prance around snapping pictures like a fanboy wi\u00fe a new toy. After a brief sound-check the band left the stage.<\/p>\n

\"ToH4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A few moments later wi\u00fe the intro tape in full effect and the tension slowly ratcheting up, drenched in blood, Mis\u00feyrming<\/strong> took the stage. Blasting off wi\u00fe \u201cS\u00f6ngur heiftar\u201d it was full on savagery from the get go. Never have I witnessed such a ferocious display of blind fury in broad daylight, and at 10pm no less. As pretty much all the band members share duties among other bands in the Icelandic scene (primarily Na\u00f0ra<\/strong>), they have no shortage of experience in delivering a performance wi\u00fe more eye watering potency than h\u00e1karl (which, by the way, I did manage to stuff in my face).<\/p>\n

\"FB<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ToH6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

D.G. is quite the performer, rallying the crowd at all the right moments and frequently making eye contact (rarely the case at Black Metal shows) wi\u00fe his piercing blue eyes. Managing the cramped stage like a fucking boss, at no point during the set did his en\u00feusiasm dip any\u00feing below 110%. I was absolutely en\u00feralled from beginning to end.<\/p>\n

\"ToH7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next up was the monstrous \u201c…af \u00fej\u00e1ningu og \u00fer\u00e1\u201d followed quickly by \u201cEndalokas\u00e1lmar\u201d, and at this point, I assumed that I was going to be treated to a full album play \u00ferough (minus the interludes). I was wrong, very wrong. I don\u2019t typically enjoy bands playing unreleased songs at concerts because I\u2019m unsure when to bang my head and \u00ferow the horns. This was absolutely not the case here. So while the next two songs were unfamiliar, they didn\u2019t detract from my enjoyment at all because new Mis\u00feyrming is never a bad \u00feing, and bo\u00fe the songs offered a new side to the band that I hadn\u2019t heard before. They were a lot more melodic than any of the songs on S\u00f6ngvar elds og \u00f3rei\u00f0u<\/em> and the second one was particularly catchy. Maybe D.G. is satisfying his dissonant and chaotically creative output wi\u00fe Sk\u00e1phe<\/strong>, and is choosing to take Mis\u00feyrming in a different direction? This can only bode well for a new album.<\/p>\n

\"FB<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ToH9\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The final song of the abbreviated festival set was the leng\u00fey album closer \u201c\u00c9g bygg\u00f0i dyr \u00ed ey\u00f0im\u00f6rkinni\u201d and what a way to bow out. \u00deirty-five plus minutes of pure Black Metal excellence!<\/p>\n

\"ToH10\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"ToH11\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019m back at home I\u2019ve had time to reflect on the trip and although I was initially dreading it, it turned out to be magnificent. While I could have moped around all week while everyone else was getting excited for the race, I at least had some\u00feing to look forward to on race day. It gave me a little bounce in my injured step every time I \u00feought about it. And the best part? I get to plan ano\u00feer trip to Iceland to take care of some unfinished business. Laugavegur will be mine.<\/p>\n