Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey Part I

After the Norwegian duo had been a sensation with their longest and at the same time most ambitious album, In Harmonia Universali, they decided to move away from black humor, life and philosophy themes to tackle themes from Viking mythology, which in a way marks a change in their style, although it becomes somewhat trite since it is not something new, much less being a Norwegian band. It seemed that they had returned to the roots of the band where these themes were addressed, but musically they were not yet too exuberant as the demo Jernlov and the debut album The Linear Scaffold. Later on they changed those themes to absurdity and humor, musically they pushed the limits until they came up with this work called Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey Part I.

Musically it is much softer compared to the previous album, but there is a problem. Solefald in previous works was characterized by having an order in their albums, a list of songs perfectly ordered as if it were a gold chain, it was impossible for them to fail in that. However, in this album it seems that they forgot the direction, there is nothing concrete or something that makes you stay awake, attentive to what you are listening to. It is ironic because in this album it seems that they are trying to tell a story of Vikings, but instead they seem to group incomplete chapters without any central idea.

This album can be divided into two songs, the first one “Sun I Call” is by far the best song on the album, it has an excellent introduction, it sounds melancholic and epic at the same time, the section where the piece explodes generates a lot of energy and really hooks you with the music. But then comes the other song “Survival of the Outlaw” that breaks all that interest in the album and it doesn’t differ much from the other songs that offer practically the same musical boredom. It’s also curious that the production, despite being very good, maintains a raspy sound, especially in the guitars, that reminds us of the sound of the first albums and ends up sounding really strong, but the other decorations ruin everything.

This album can sound insufferable in some parts, “There Is Need” is a song that tries to generate power, but fails in the attempt, “Bragi” is an instrumental piece that sounds nice, but it is so futile that you could skip it and not miss anything important. “Crater of the Valkyries” is the longest song and unfortunately it is also very boring, although the title of the song really invites you to listen to it, but the worst thing is that when you listen to it you are left confused and unmotivated.

There is a lot of work here from various artists and they bring almost nothing important to the table, nothing that really stands out and leaves you surprised. This first part of “An Icelandic Odyssey” is a failed exercise in creating something unique, because there is only a mixture of ideas that do not come to a concentrated form, it is a rather frustrating experience to listen to this album. Thank goodness it is the only Solefald album that made me feel so disenchanted with them, because from the first time I heard them on their debut album they left me marked for life.