Artist: Vafurlogi
Country: Iceland
Label: Norma Evangelium Diaboli / Oration Records
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2026
‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs’, the sophomore album of Vafurlogi, arrives just two years after the debut ‘Í Vökulli Áþján’. Since then, the Icelandic band expanded from the duo of Þórir Garðarsson (now guitars and vocals) and drummer Ragnar Sverrisson to a four-piece by adding bass player Samúel Ásgeirsson and second guitar player Eysteinn Orri Sigurðsson. But instead of changes, what is most important is to focus on what the band has continued. And that is to impress with their fresh take on Icelandic Black Metal.
‘Í Vökulli Áþján’ was a highly renjoyable album because it took the type of riffs that Þórir Garðarsson brought to us with his work in Sinmara and Svartidauði, but shifted them away from the more dissonant sound of those bands to a more open, progressive and melody-driven whole. That debut album certainly also boasted a strong epic vibe that harkened back to for instance Enslaved. It is safe to say that the dissonance in the riffs is even more reduced on ‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs’. Even the more triumphant sound seems more subdued, outside maybe a track like ‘Úr himinsölum’. Instead ‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs’ feels even more focused on melody, and a band like Kvist often comes to mind as complementary to the typical Mayhem-based riffs that hallmark Þórir Garðarsson’s writing style. This is without forsaking the aggression that is inherent to that style, and I wouldn’t even say the music is off the charts melodic. It is rather, more beautiful, has more room for leads and even solos and flows very organically, all in contrast to a perhaps somewhat melancholic sense of darkness in the music. And in doing so, it also continues to distinguish Vafurlogi more from the bands that they are inevitably associated with, and in a good way.
I would describe ‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs’ as a less chaotic and more beauty-centred version of the debut albums of Sinmara and Svartidauði: All records are recognisable but sufficiently different from one another to add to each other instead of overlap. And considering that those two aforementioned albums count among my favorites from the Icelandic scene, it is safe to say that this second Vafurlogi album is definitely also under consideration for one of my favorite records to come from the Island.
