Fjords - S/T (EP Review)

Release date: April 17^th 2020. Label: Self Released. Format: DD

Fjords – S/T – Tracklisting

1.Hela 03:16

2.Garðarshólmi 03:16

3.Múspellsheimr 07:08

4.Leifr 03:04

5.Yggdrasill 06:40

Members

André Figueiredo (Drums)

Rafael Borges (bass)

Review

Fjords is a Psychedelic Stoner Metal Duo from Portugal and the band have just release their self-titled debut EP. The EP is quite an interesting style of music with Fjords playing a heavy style of Drone, Doom, Psych Rock, Post-Punk and Post-Rock which is all held together by the band’s great style of Stoner Metal.

With this being a Bass/Drum Duo, you don’t really miss a standard heavy guitar and the guys have to work quickly in playing a Stoner Metal groove and the band pull this off with style and supreme confidence.

Opening song – Hela – is a Post-Rock/Post-Punk song with the band bring a Doom/Stoner Metal atmosphere on the later stages of the song. Though, it’s good to see Fjords bringing an experimental drive to their music. These guys seem influenced by OM on this song and perhaps the entire album. Things get very trippy indeed especially with the cool vocals adding a more “out of this world” effect. The pounding grooves of both André and Rafael show that they mean business for a more direct volatile sound.

Second song – Garðarshólmi – is more colder and calculating compared to the opening song with the vocals having a “folk-rock” sensibility but that’s only a rouse for the band to surprise you with more of their bass-heavy grooves that do take time appear but the song becomes more compelling when they do appear. The atmosphere is quite raw and this is reflected in the overall production of the EP. As the overall sound of the EP is very real and you feel part of Fjords volatile world.

Third song – Múspellsheimr – is where I feel Fjords start to become a real band of sorts. As they have more time to play with. As this song runs for 7 minutes and Fjords play a wide range of different distorted sludge based sounds with the bass guitar leading the way with some impressive loud riffs along the way. The vocals are quite good indeed even though the sound could have done with more work. However, this is the standout song on the EP with Fjords showing a real passion and flair for creating heavy atmospheric noises. The guys even find time to play a “Jazzier” style of Post-Doom in the middle of the song.

The final two songs – Leifr and Yggdrasill – continue with the heavy distorted Post-Punk, Post-Doom and Stoner Metal grooves on both songs with Yggdrasill being the other standout song on the EP.

Fjords have made a mighty impression with myself on their debut release. It’s not the best sounding release but the band do show some excellent creative ideas of their own on this record and I definitely want to hear more from these guys in the future.

My advice is give these guys a chance and you’ll be surprised by the fantastic amount of different heavy sounds that Fjords have included on this release.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp