Celestially set gaze and fire-enrobed corpus stand entranced by the gloria of illuminant fury, all that possesses power through destruction as Reykjavík, Iceland-based melodic black metal quartet VAFURLOGI return a new-bodied old soul in pursuit of their own ignis divinus on this accomplished sophomore full-length album. As the ashes settle in surround ‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs‘ enlivens rather than suffocates within its hailing downpour of distinctly orthodox-embedded melodic black metal. Borne from an ages-old ever divining search their work here yields strong contemporary standing, an intensely immersive feat which proves more stirring and ambitious with each pass.

Vafurlogi is an extension of Þórir Garðarsson‘s gnosis, a long-fostered font of singular will set apart from the development of Svartidauði and Sinmara in the post-millennium decade now given to wisened praxis. A melodious beast hanging in mind as backlogged ideation ’til officially formed in 2018 and joined by drummer Ragnar Sverrisson (Helfró, ex-Beneath) during the plague years beyond, the original duo centered upon realizing their own pyromantic interlace of 90’s melodic black majestic thrum and 2000’s orthodox blazonry. Their debut LP (‘Í vökulli áþján‘, 2024) appeared as a streak of lightning to the artists temple, a consistently melodious orthodox-tinted visor given to folken and heavy metallic trot n’ trampling gait. I’d given high praise of their work in review, appreciating the well-formed voice and ideal enforced within.

Expanded into a performance-capable quartet in 2024 as members of Nyrst, Úlfúð and Volcanova bolstered their troupe, Vafurlogi clearly intended to carry on in stride with all indications made they’d a ~couple of decades worth of material readied to pull from and interpret. It is no great surprise that another full-length from the band might strike just a couple of years later but moreso that they’d manifest as transformative and considered a work as ‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs‘ in the interim; If we can see the band’s first album as a mind stricken by spiritual-existential inspiration, a majestic yet reaching ambition in its bones, then this second album offers different angling upon similar purpose, no less rooted in Franco-Scandinavian black metal foundations but all the more strident, freed of any sort of congestion in its pursuit of divine fire.

More than ever ‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs‘ bears the tempestuous arcing of melodic black metal as rigging for Vafurlogi‘s loftily slung feats, taking in less of the folken-melodic tangling of ‘Í vökulli áþján‘ and instead reaching toward the dramatic surge of Garðarsson‘s own signature in long-stranded formae. This fluid “melorthodox” munition, paired with the warmed but echoic space lent by Stephen Lockhart‘s efforts via Studio Emissary, makes for a record sure to grip the throat of Sinmara fandom outright before carving deeper at the channel established a couple of years ago. As if summoned mid-conversation in-sway opener “Af heilagri heift” and its initial tarantella should readily indicate the suggested transformation beyond the previous album, no less summoned from that core ideation, but rather rife with intense detail with broader consideration for bass guitar voicing and the tumult of the tempo map. Spoken sections, ranting leads, spiral-cut atmospheric downturn and the first of a few piano-graced interpretations suggest a doubly sophisticated feat outright.

Equal parts dark romanticism and philosophical reclamation a piece like “Þegar rykið sest” perfectly encapsulates the 90’s borne post-millennial muse of Vafurlogi‘s work in the context of atmospheric black metal’s grappling with perceived space, aggression and coherence. Less an overlay of diabolically scaling riff-in-rant atop rock-kicked motion and more a transformation of nigh post-black strictures the sombre ’til soaring “haunt” of this piece carries its own conversational lilt throughout, only phasing out of its wandering phrase in reprisal of theme. Though these are only parts of the broader ouevre on display within ‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs‘ what characteristics one could glean from the first two pieces on the album translate the depth of compositional interest and (again) conversational mulling of these guitar directed songs.

The middle portion of ‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs‘ reaches a fevered downward gazing command of melodic black metal that’d stoked my mind from the first listen. The obviate hook-in-skull is probably eponymous piece “Vafurlogi” per its folken harmonized leads, a hint of the oaken soul we found on the first album, but naturally “Vitjun” caught my ear as arguably the most Swedish melodic black metal wheeling on album, conjuring at least the fangs of ‘Far Away From the Sun‘ in its midst. There is a gravitas, a downward pulling weight to “Vitjun” in particular that’d caught my ear on each pass through marking it as a standout before the grand dramatic gestures of the closer, “Earthly Vestiges” would overtake. This is where I’d argue advancement within Vafurlogi‘s work overall, a level of abyss-gazing focus contrasted with the exuberant musculature of the prior album.

The downpour which accumulates over the course of ‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs‘ lands it among the most immersive feats of the year thus far, a reaching bout of introspection which gathers weight as it descends. The holistic effect is not overpowered by solemnity but rather lent additional point of view by it as the experience is guided by what the protagonist seeks rather than what burdens. As a sophomore album potentially enjoyed context-free Vafurlogi‘s efforts here make great sense in-discography, different stylization at a similarly sky-set standard, a new point of profundity beyond the last. A very high recommendation.

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