Worldwide Metal: Greenland
On another edition of Worldwide Metal, I head to Europe and check out a country I’ve heard of, but don’t know much about, Greenland. With its beautiful scenery amidst its cold demeanor, the country is a massive island just off the coast of Europe. I don’t know if there is any popular metal bands from the region, let alone of the extreme kind. So I thought they would be the perfect band to look into and see if there is any good metal from the area. Luckily, I was not let down in some of my picks and I’m hear to share my findings.
The first act I’ll be covering pays homage to the roots of traditional heavy metal. The band is Arctic Spirits from Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland. With riffs that pay tribute to the rise of New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM for short) with acts like Judas Priest, the band delivers that nostalgic vibe to classic heavy metal. The band’s most recent album Naalaannarnata! - Utaqqiinnarnata! creates modern metal vibes mixed with classic heavy metal. Creating a good combo of old and new school metal that would make any metal purist happy. Especially with the almost fry-screams of Lars B. Mathæussen on some songs.
The next band I’m gonna talk about is progressive metal act Pukuut. Featuring progressive metal sections with elements of power metal with choirs and strings, Pukuut bridges the gap between both genres. The growl vocals on their 2020 album Minutsit Kingulliit’s opening track “Sumunun Pisunga” definitely breaks the listener’s vision of where the song was going with the clean to growl switch-up. With moments of djent-like pacing and chugging downtuned guitars, it definitely takes the modern metal take on progressive metal into the band’s sound. Worth a listen if you like the extreme side of progressive metal.
Next is a band that combines elements of atmospheric black metal, doom metal, and a touch of dungeon synth in their sound. The band is Stromptha. A one man project, the band features the talented musician, who goes by J. Stromptha‘s most recent album was 2020’s Endura Pleniluniis. I adored the record. With elements of Burzum’s “synth era”, combined with the experimentation of doom and funeral doom like Ahab and Bell Witch, mixed in with harsh, demo-quality black metal production. Songs are so epic in scale, harsh and beautiful all at the same time. A good record that makes you wanna put on a great pair of noise-cancelling headphones and just drown the world out.
The last band I’ll be covering today is the atmospheric black metal band Moonlight Drowns. Delivering that cascading wall of distortion and rough production, this three piece truly embodies and delivers that melancholic delivery that atmospheric black metal does so well. Their debut album The Stars Guide The Path in 2017 was a strong debut, with their last record released one year later Destiny and The Aftermath. The vocalist, Wanderer, just has that deep, whispy, gravelly vocal that matches the longing and sadness in the band’s sound on Destiny and The Aftermath. If you are a fan of the post-black/shoegaze sound, this will be a great band to check out.
That’s going to do it for my time visiting Greenland and another edition of Worldwide Metal. Did you dig some of the bands I featured in this edition? Were there any bands you think other readers should check out? You can also let me know what country I should travel to next, so I can stamp my metal passport on my journey to discover Worldwide Metal.
