The Faroe Islands lie in the ovine latitudes, those windswept northerly rungs on planet earth covered by sparse, rocky vistas and, well, sheep.
There are roughly fifty thousand people on the remote archipelago that lies half-way between Iceland and Norway, and apparently, like their neighbors, there is a resilient heavy music scene, churning below the moss covered scree.
Meet Hamferð, a band on the cusp of releasing Támsins Likam their debut doom metal album, stocked with six passionate, dramatic doom metal tracks.
The intro to the opener, “Fylgisflog” is slow, revealing spare tones laid out in a harrowing, icy web with vocals building slowly into the mix before the guitars erupt. Cavernous and full of a winter bluster, “Frosthvarv” seeps out slowly too, like an arctic sunrise, yawning and beautiful all the same. At least on the album’s early tracks, Hamferð successfully weave atmosphere in their doom metal sound.
The heaviest track on Támsins Likam “Hon syndrast” feels like it comes from another album altogether, full of thunderous percussion, vocals charnel and nasty, with guitars struggling to crest over the resulting surge. On the closer, “Vapi I anda” the sound slows back down to a trudge again, air opening up, revealing ringing guitars and the ascending vocal style that defines the album. By now though, the atmospheres feel confused. They’re solid tracks, but they feel disconnected from their predecessors.
While the record is laden with heavy instrumentation, it feels clean instead of sludgy. The guitar chords are crisp and easy on the ear, working well with the slow, technically deft percussion. The production throughout shines frosty light on each agonizing chord; it feels as though Hamferð was careful to record an album with broad musical appeal. The vocals are the most maddening though, a pass back and forth between dramatic, soaring traditional metal leads and crusty, labyrinthine growls. I would have been more comfortable with one or the other. The result here is an album that at all times seems in search of its real voice.
Overall, I liked Támsins Likam, although it often left me wanting more thump, atmosphere and perhaps even a sense of the musical gallows.
