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Solefald is a band away from the rest in every sense. Their history tells us about death threats due to their courage ignoring black metal patterns and attitudes, use of several languages in their lyrics, absence of dogmas in the songmaking and appearance, and above all, a tasteful sixth sense in creating music. Probably a band hard to digest to most of mortals, sometimes a pretentious band, artists in the true sense of the word. Two souls conduct this total orchestra, Cornelius Jakhelln and Lars Are Nedland, mostly known by Lazare. In each album Solefald have pushed boundaries and thrown them into the trashbin, so when some months ago they claimed this album would be rather back to the black metal roots, we the inititated got a bit shocked. Well, the truth has unveiled for us all, and Solefald are releasing two albums in a row, but in separate moments. This is the first one, “Red For Fire”, and in the beginning of 2006 its counterpart “Black For Death” will see the light.
At first sight, it´s easy to see Solefald are still innovating through their music. Obviously you can´t expect these guys to play suddenly raw Norwegian black metal à la Darkthrone, so “Red For Fire” is not a pure black metal album nor anything similar, certainly. The very first song “Sun I Call” has got a saxophone opening the theme, and four voices (perhaps five??) singing the verses, quite amazing and stirring, by the way. With such a start, any thought about them being away from their bizarre conceptions must be wiped off one´s mind. The female vocals also appear in “White Frost Queen”, kind of a beautiful choral medieval ballad. Other songs as “Survival Of The Outlaw” or “There Is Need” have a strong death metal edge, and the patterns of the songs in general are less intricate and twisted than in previous albums. That´s a constant throughout the CD, it´s more straight forward, far beyond the complexity of the previous album, patterns repeat in a structured way and there aren´t many “coast to coast” tempo changes.
One curious thing about this album is the wide variety of styles portrayed, it´s very easy and entertaining to listen (of course if you´re into bizarre bands and with an open minded musical view), while “In Harmonia Universali” was a quite demanding album full of sonic meanders. Add the fact we can find here two interludes (“Prayer Of A Son” strongly reminding me of an Orphaned Land song) and a hidden track consisting of a traditional Icelandic text taken from “The Poetic Edda” book, dealing with the rants and verbal abuses between Loki and other Aesir –these words haven´t been reproduced in the booklet- recited by an Icelandic Ásatrú priest (nothing less!), and the weird circle is complete. Perhaps the most orthodox element on this album is the lyrics; they are inspired by the style of Icelandic sagas and distant from Solefald´s own brand of prolific imagination. Another thing to close this diatribe, the booklet is glossily imitating old papers, with those stains on the corners and sides... Definitely not an album for everyone, nor the best effort from Solefald, but again we have with us a piece of beautiful music from these Norwegian maniacs, and that´s positive as usual.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Sun I Call |
| 2. Survival Of The Outlaw |
| 3. Where Birds Have Never Been |
| 4. Bragi (instrumental) |
| 5. White Frost Queen |
| 6. There Is Need |
| 7. Prayer Of A Son (poem) |
| 8. Crater Of The Valkyries |
| 9. Sea I Called |
| 10. Lokasenna (poem) (hidden track) |
: 54.54
| Buy other Solefald albums |
