ARSTIDIR - Hvel LP

Insert with lyrics.

Nicely priced. One copy only.

Hvel is a folk-inspired rock album with progressive elements, not unlike work that Steven Wilson has done in the past. The overall mood of the record is very subdued and skeletal, with lots of downtuned and cavernous acoustic guitars creating the structure for the music. The music is partly sung in Icelandic, and English. With the lyrics mainly detailing sorrowful tales of regret and old relationships. They come across very poetic and melodic, while the vocals are sung in a low-key fashion.

The album has a nice and methodical approach to it's flow. Occasionally rising and swelling with grand ochestral movements or heavy rock passages every so often ( one track even had some synth passages), to once again fall to more easy-going or brooding slower cuts.