ALBUM REVIEW: Endless Twilight Of Codependent Love – Sólstafir

November 5, 2020 Tom Morgan

One of the most enigmatic cult bands in modern music, Iceland’s SÓLSTAFIR are an endlessly fascinating giant of atmospheric rock. Their arctic origins seem to seep through the very pores of their music, emanating epic and elemental songs that transport and enrapture as often as they mystify. Their track lengths lean towards the drawn-out and unpredictable, their lyrics are mostly sung in Icelandic and their musical textures are cool, spacious, with occasional eruptions of volcanic aggression.

Endless Twilight Of Codependent Love follows the contours that those familiar with the band will recognise, as SÓLSTAFIR stretch back and forth through their own history. Previous release Berdreyminn, was a bit of a drag, as rich as ever but lacking the urgency of career highlights Masterpiece Of Bitterness or Kold, the latter of which is perhaps the perfect synthesis of SÓLSTAFIR’s early and later period sounds. Endless Twilight Of Codependent Love comes across as a similar attempt to straddle these two eras, however loaded with an added air of maturity and experience.

These songs take their time, as if trudging across an expansive tundra. Rökkur begins with serene orchestral beauty before introducing the jam-like structure of the track, seemingly meandering, but in fact carefully arranged and adorned with textural nuances. Multiple tracks follow this linear structure, such as the gorgeous Til Moldar, a lush mini epic of impeccable grandeur, and Drýsill, which adds to the formula a remarkable final stretch of pulsating drums and ethereal vocals. These tracks are all hypnotic and enthralling, like staring into an aurora-strewn night sky.

Then there’s the heavier songs, which although come with a finish of basalt-like cragginess, are no less heartrending. Opener Akkeri features the album’s heaviest moments, with pummelling guitars, pained vocals and drums that crash like waves against cliffs. Úlfur begins with riffing that flirts with stoner rock, yet possesses a deep emotional range, recalling Elder, Yob or perhaps the more poignant moments of High On Fire. The lengthy runtime is put to more varied use than the other tracks on Endless Twilight Of Codependent Love, summiting metallic peaks and descending to pastoral calms.

It’s fascinating to watch SÓLSTAFIR navigate this unique topography. They seem to occupy an aesthetic space that is truly their own, from Addi Tryggvason’s pained vocals, to the wide-open song structures, to the genuine chill that courses from the speakers as you experience Endless Twilight Of Codependent Love. For lack of a better term, they seem genuinely alien, to listeners from such a different culture to theirs. Everything in their music ticks over differently, and it’s a constant delight to consume and digest.

A work of endlessly intriguing atmospheric rock, SÓLSTAFIR have crafted an album that is ice cold in its textures but lava-like in its beating, emotional heart. This is music to get lost in, a journey across an unfamiliar landscape led by a trusted guide. Relax into Endless Twilight Of Codependent Love and let SÓLSTAFIR reveal all of the secrets and wonders that their world contains.

Rating: 9/10