Brenndar Rústir & Fuðrandi Fjörur

vote
7.0

• Bands:
  FORSMAN
• Duration: 00:44:17
• Available from: 06/26/2026
• Label:

• Vesperian

With the light In the heat of these days at the end of June, we really needed a breath of fresh air from the harsh Icelandic lands to help our poor air conditioners in the difficult task of bringing a little refreshment.
We don't hide that we were waiting for something much more impactful, also given the time it took to arrive at this work: in fact Forsmán's first album, “Brenndar Rústir & Fuðrandi Fjörur“ arrives a good five years after the very good debut EP, even if at the time it seemed vaguely more imminent.

In 2026, Icelandic black metal is no longer a novelty (and probably no longer a trend, as it might have been some time ago), it is a current of the genre that is now well codified and assimilated, and therefore perhaps today an album like this no longer surprises as it would have once done, but we can still say that Forsman's work is really good: a cold and harsh black metal, where the sharp guitars draw claustrophobic and tight textures, on sound beds as cold as expanses frozen.
The sound does not differ almost at all from what was proposed in the 2021 EP, “”Dönsum I Logans Ljóma”, if nothing else confirms the good impressions felt at the time and shows that the past years have served to refine the weapons and add a few layers of depth in the writing sessions, now capable of a few more instrumental digressions (“Andvana” and its central part, together with the slowdowns that make up the song).
The sound of the album alternates ferocity with layers of melody, with roots well planted in the sound of the Icelandic genre (and, as we noted at the time of the review of the previous work, with an eye to Misþyrming, in particular the sound of the second album; among other things, the drummer, M. shares the bands), without however hiding the purely heavy metal roots that resurface throughout the entire duration, as for example in “Valdníðsla”, in its pace aggressive but never exasperated.
The peak of the album is undoubtedly “Barmafylltar Fjöldagrafir”, the final song capable of alternating more extended tempos with a more complex structure and different variations, with a morbid musicality, with some almost Slayer references.
There is also a death metal substratum that hovers over Forsmán's work: it perhaps appears in the construction of some slightly more intricate moments, in the sense of the actual construction of the song rather than in the mode of expression, which in fact remains exquisitely black (“Kynjamyndir”, even in the use of the voice and for some guitar dissonance).

In general, this first long-distance album is a listen that, despite not particularly standing out within the proposed genre, manages to be listened to with attention and taste, without revolutionizing anything. Maybe we were expecting something a little more amazing after the premises, but it remains a nice album within a genre with a decidedly high average quality.