Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey Part I | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 18 October 2005 | |||
Genre | Avant-garde metal, black metal, Viking metal | |||
Length | 54:20 | |||
Label | Season of Mist | |||
Producer | Solefald | |||
Solefald chronology | ||||
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Black for Death: An Icelandic Odyssey Part II | ||||
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Studio album by Solefald | ||||
Released | 24 November 2006 | |||
Genre | Avant-garde metal, black metal, Viking metal | |||
Length | 50:42 | |||
Label | Season of Mist | |||
Producer | Solefald | |||
Solefald chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Blabbermouth.net | 6/10 [1] |
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
An Icelandic Odyssey is a two-part concept album series by Norwegian avant-garde metal band Solefald. The first part, Red for Fire, was released on 18 October 2005, while the second part, Black for Death, was released on 24 November 2006. The band was quoted as saying "Solefald was experimenting when everybody was being true. Now that things are changing and that we've pushed the experiment quite far already, we wanted Red for Fire plus Black for Death to be our attempts at being 'true'. This will be a true Nordic Viking metal album."
Both albums could be considered a play on how Solefald describe their music, which is as "red music with black edges".
All tracks written by Cornelius and Lazare.
The music in the song "Loki Trickster God" is the same as in "White Frost Queen" from Red for Fire; however, "Loki Trickster God" is shorter, and the music is arranged differently in the second half of the song.
Baldr is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was known in Old English as Bældæġ, and in Old High German as Balder, all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *Balðraz.
Loki is a god in Norse mythology. According to some sources, Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi or Nari and Váli. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. In the form of a mare, Loki was impregnated by the stallion Svaðilfari and gave birth to the eight-legged horse Sleipnir.
In Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of numerous great figures, natural disasters, and the submersion of the world in water. After these events, the world will rise again, cleansed and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors. Ragnarök is an important event in Norse mythology and has been the subject of scholarly discourse and theory in the history of Germanic studies.
In Norse mythology, Skaði is a jötunn and goddess associated with bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains. Skaði is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda and in Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the works of skalds.
Lokasenna is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki. It is written in the ljóðaháttr metre, typical for wisdom verse. Lokasenna is believed to be a 10th-century poem.
Lars Are Nedland, known also as Lazare, from Kristiansand, Norway, is the vocalist, drummer, and keyboardist for acclaimed avant-garde black metal band Solefald. He is also keyboardist for the progressive black metal act Borknagar. He composes much of the music and all the arrangements for violin and cello on the Solefald albums, Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey Part 1 and Black For Death: An Icelandic Odyssey Part 2. He also has written some lyrics for the band, including the songs "04.34 pm", "Fluorescent", and "White Frost Queen." He and vocalist/guitarist/bassist/main lyricist Cornelius Jakhelln started Solefald in August 1995.
Kristoffer Rygg, also known as Garm, Trickster G. Rex and God Head, is a heavy-metal vocalist, musician and producer known primarily for his work with Ulver, Arcturus, and Borknagar.
Solefald is a Norwegian avant-garde metal/black metal band that was formed by members Lars Are "Lazare" Nedland and Cornelius Jakhelln in August 1995, with Nedland singing and playing keyboard/synthesizer/piano and drums, and Jakhelln singing and playing guitar and bass. The duo experiment with a wide array of musical styles, frequently work on other projects, and rarely perform live under the Solefald name, leading them to describe themselves as "two stubborn goats pretending to be a band." According to the duo, their name is an Old Norse word for "sunset," taken from one of Theodor Kittelsen's paintings illustrating a poem of the same name by Theodor Caspari, published in the 1901 book Vintereventyr.
Ásmegin is a Norwegian folk/viking metal band formed in 1998. The name comes from Old Norse and means "Might of the Æsir" or "Might of the Gods". Ásmegin's lyrics are written in Norwegian as well as some in Old Norse and older Norwegian. Some of the tracks on Hin vordende Sod og Sø are modeled after the Norwegian play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen.
Ram-Zet is an avant-garde metal band formed in Hamar, Norway in 1998.
Pills Against the Ageless Ills is the third studio album by Norwegian avant-garde metal band Solefald. It was released on 19 September 2001, and is their first album under the Century Media label. It is a concept album, following the story of two brothers, Philosopher Fuck and Pornographer Cain.
In Harmonia Universali is the fourth studio album by Norwegian avant-garde metal band Solefald. It was released on 24 March 2003, and their last record released under the Century Media label. The album features lyrics sung in four languages: English, Norwegian, French and German.
Cornelius Jakhelln, né Cornelius Brastad, also known under the nom de plume Cornelius von Jackhelln, is a Norwegian vocalist, guitarist, musician, writer and poet.
Sahg is a three-piece Norwegian hard rock/doom metal band formed in Bergen in the summer of 2004, by key figures in the metal scene of their country: Tom Cato Visnes, Einar Selvik (Kvitrafn), Olav Iversen and Thomas Tofthagen. Iversen has been the main songwriter and the only constant member of the band since its inception.
Neonism is the second studio album by Norwegian avant-garde metal band Solefald. It was released on 7 December 1999, through Avantgarde Music.
The Linear Scaffold is the debut studio album by Norwegian avant-garde metal band Solefald. It was released in 1997, through Avantgarde Records.
Norrøn livskunst is the seventh studio album by Norwegian avant-garde black metal band Solefald and their first album released through Indie Recordings.
Kidneythieves are an American industrial rock band, founded in 1998, led by Free Dominguez (vocals) and Bruce Somers (guitar/engineering).
Jörmundur Ingi Hansen is an Icelandic-Danish neopagan leader, designer, businessman and clothing retailer. Trained as a sculptor and known as a prominent member of Reykjavík's hippie scene, he co-founded the Icelandic neopagan organization Ásatrúarfélagið in 1972, co-creating its rituals, liturgy and clothing. From 1994 to 2002, he led the organization, holding the title allsherjargoði; during his time in office, Ásatrúarfélagið experienced significant membership growth, acquired a building in Reykjavík and constructed a pagan burial ground designed by Jörmundur. An internal conflict led to his removal from the position, and in 2004 he left and became the leader of a small splinter group.