Misþyrming – Algleymi (Review)

Misþyrming are a black metal band from Iceland and this is their second album.

Misþyrming are a band that made a huge splash in the black metal ocean when they released their debut album in 2015, but I confess I never got around to hearing it. As such, Algleymi is my first exposure to this much-vaunted band. After this, I will definitely be checking out their earlier work.

Intense, melodic, dark, and atmospheric; sometimes separately, sometimes all at once. Whatever the music is doing Algleymi is an album that demands your attention and, once received, does its damn best to enthral and captivate with its dark vision of what black metal should sound like. This vision is a highly compelling one I have to say, and Algleymi will be receiving many, many replays in the future, and for many years I’m sure.

Misþyrming’s black metal is played as an Icelandic interpretation of the classic style, with a unique vision and take on this familiar genre. On paper there’s nothing here that particularly differentiates them from many other black metal groups, but in actuality when you listen to this music, you’re instantly aware that this is something special, something far, far better than what the hordes of blackened masses are producing. The music has a certain quality, certain indefinable attributes that mark it out as superior. I’m told that this album is far more melodic than their first, but how true that is I have yet to discover, so make of that what you will. Either way, Algleymi is a very melodic release, and this contributes to how hideously enjoyable and thoroughly moreish it is.

The cold fires of black metal have been reignited, and Misþyrming are here to lay claim to everything they survey. Algleymi is an album to explore over time, and rejoice that you’re alive to hear its splendour.