Nine Circles

At some point in time, many of us have been fascinated by the sea and the tales it holds underneath its waves. Even from a safe vantage point, it can be perceived as giving yet cruel – when it gives, it can also take. You may be able to make a living at sea, but it can suddenly take your life with as much pomp and circumstance as it desires, leaving behind only those who will continue to remember you. Inspired by the 1915 Sandvik whaling disaster, where 14 men died driving whales ashore, Hamferð’s newest album, Men Guðs hond er sterk, deals with the ghosts that linger after a tragedy occurs.

When first listening to Men Guðs hond er sterk, one of the first things that struck me was how haunting it is. First track “Ábær” starts with this bombastic introduction, complete with harsh vocals and a moving rhythmic section, before it slips into this almost atmospheric, melodic bridge with clean, soaring vocals. The only way I can describe those vocals are siren-like, warning you to be careful of the sea, warning you to go home. The music also sounds like it could be part of a shanty, except, instead of it being upbeat or euphoric, it’s a song that sailors sing when mourning the death of another sailor. I can easily see this song being sung while on a whaling ship, as the sailors in question look out into the horizon and see a storm approaching. It’s this theme – of warning and mourning – that permeates throughout the album. While each song is about a part of the disaster itself, they are united by a foreboding sense of dread that hangs in the air. This is evident on the “heavier” (i.e. melody is not the focus) tracks, such as “Marrusong”, where the music drags and the tone takes on a sinister quality, as if indicating that something is coming. On these heavier tracks, those soaring vocals are not a balm; they are the actual harbinger of doom. Hamferð succeeds in both striking fear and melancholy into the mind of the listener, evoking images of the seashore, the bodies strewn across the sand, and the onlookers watching from higher ground, shock and sorrow marring their faces. I may not understand Faroese, but the emotion coming from each track is what got me to appreciate Men Guðs hond er sterk across various listens.

On the more technical aspects of the record, Men Guðs hond er sterk sounds lush, the music composed and structured to showcase the heavier side of the band. The album has a lot of moments where the music threatens to sink under its own weight, but it bounces back to sheer melodic mastery to offset that weight. This is because Men Guðs hond er sterk was recorded live in the studio without a click track, placing its focus on the emotional atmosphere and the band’s performance. It also adds polish to their sound, sounding both mature in its scope and dramatic in its execution. What you get is one of the strongest death-doom records in recent memory, showcasing mastery of a genre that works in a highly personal space.

I also wanted to discuss the closing track, “Men Guðs hond er sterk”. It is an atmospheric track, with the sound of waves in the background, whose main core consists of the recorded interview one of the survivors gave in the 1950s, detailing the event and the effect it had on the village for years afterward. However, he doesn’t sound like he’s in shock; he sounds like he is grateful to be alive. There’s a melancholy to his tone, as he details what happened that day. But ultimately he sounds like he has accepted what happened and his survival. In an odd way, this recording has immortalized him as a ghost that has lingered. Although everyone who was there when the disaster occurred is now either dead or elderly, the memory still lives on in the collective unconscious of Sandvik.

–Hera

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Men Guðs hond er sterk is available through Metal Blade Records. For more information on Hamferð, visit their official Facebook and Instagram.