Album Review: Black Desert Sun, Black Desert Sun
Posted in Reviews on November 8th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Somewhere between and EP, an LP, and who-cares-lighten-up is the 29-minute self-titled debut from Icelandic fuzz riffers Black Desert Sun, as the Reykjavik four-piece offer clues to their sound right in the name. The intention of the seven-songer, which was originally released by the band in 2016 and sees its first vinyl issue in 2022 through Sweden’s Ozium Records, can be derived from ‘black desert sun’ itself, the first two words possibly a reference to Iceland’s abundance of igneous, volcanic rock, much of it dried lava that has turned black. And yes, there are black sand dunes and beaches, and yes, the sun shines on them, so a ‘black desert sun’ — if it wasn’t actually their intention, it at least is easy to read that way — is the band’s way of conveying their goal of bringing California-style desert rock into their own place, time and songwriting.
The use of ‘sun’ in particular brings to mind Blues for the Red Sun by Kyuss, which is a strong reference point for Black Desert Sun‘s Black Desert Sun from second track “Spliff Sucker” (as opposed, one assumes, to bong ripper or hookah huffer, etc.) onward through “Pharoas Serpents” (sic) and the lumbering centerpiece “Psycho Wizard.” Comprised of vocalist Björg Amalía Hraunfjörð Ívarsdóttir, currently of Chernobyl Jazz Club, drummer Brynjar Ólafsson, and guitarist Víðir Örn Gunnarsson and bassist Stefán Gestur Stefánsson, both of whom were already getting their next band, the more crush-minded Morpholith, going by the time this record first came out, Black Desert Sun would only release this one collection during their tenure, and six years after the fact — which isn’t that long in the context of the expanding universe — it sounds more like a stoner relic from Europe circa 1995 than something that came along more than 20 years later. That, of course, is no accident.
It’s been a few years now, and these things are cyclical as new listeners come, go, stay or don’t in a given microgenre’s aesthetic terrain, but the whole Kyuss-worship thing has kind of receded. Black Desert Sun having come out in 2016 tracks with the four-piece’s origins circa 2013, which is just about in line with a generational shift (see also right now) happening in heavy music listenership as the heavy underground community took to social networks, found each other, and flourished for a time in its revelry for, among other things, the aforementioned Californian desert rock progenitors. I don’t know how Black Desert Sun came together, but the willing-to-be-silly careening groove of “Sparkle Juice” and the instrumental opener “Echobrain” (anyone remember that band Jason Newsted was in when he left Metallica?), the sense of revival they bring, speak to that particular moment in time, younger players adopting the influence and tenets of a particular style and invariably bringing something of themselves to it.
Ívarsdóttir, who seems to nod more directly at Unida in “Pharoas Serpents” and sits out the closer “Psychedelic Soundscape Part III” — is malleable as a singer and she brings a throatier edge to “Spliff Sucker” as a first impression following on from the intended hypnosis of “Echobrain” at the outset, which is the second longest track at 4:57 and obviously something with more depth than just an intro riff or some such. “Pharoas Serpents” opens up a bit in the hook, is more swinging and less tense, but still ultimately in the same vein as the song before it, and the penultimate “Sparkle Juice” operates similarly in its sub-four-minute hook-based thrust, the band relying on tone and groove to bring out the atmosphere of the pieces and succeeding in making them do precisely that. Slower in its unfolding, “Psycho Wizard” is a highlight in no small part because of the layering Ívarsdóttir does with her lines, but if one is looking for a point on Black Desert Sun at which a nascent hint of Morpholith‘s cosmic-doom largesse can be found, there’s no question that’s it as Gunnarsson and Stefánsson unfurl a nod topped with a spacious echoing solo in the back half of the track, leaving room for a sample to answer back to the beginning of the song as well.
“Psycho Wizard” is the longest inclusion, and might be the broadest reaching, but the album’s starting with “Echobrain” and finishing with “Psychedelic Soundscape Part III” — which at 3:35 is more of a rocker than one might expect given the title — gives a firm sense of structure at the same time it opens the audience’s mind from outset for whatever’s coming. Mostly that’s riffs, and that’s just fine. Sometimes straight-up, go-to-ground, desert-style heavy roll is just the thing, and whatever else “Echobrain” tells you at the beginning, it tells you you’re certainly in for some of that. And while the core of the album is what the band themselves bring to it, guest vocals from Jens Ólafsson of Icelandic heavy rock royalty Brain Police on “Monster in Haze” and guest guitar from Gunnar Örn Sigurðsson of Orn Custom Guitars on “Monster in Haze” and “Psychedelic Soundscape Part III” speak immediately to the band’s desire to position themselves among their country’s vibrant heavy underground.
In 2016, supporting this album, Black Desert Sun played the renowned Eisnaflug Festival — they covered Kyuss‘ “Molten Universe” live regularly at the time, had a new song called “White Widow” in that set — and while it’s been Morpholith who have become the priority on something of a different stylistic track in the years since, there’s no real question that Black Desert Sun had potential of their own. As to what happened to end the band, or if they might not show up tomorrow with a new album announcement, I don’t know, but Ozium‘s reissue is a chance for a listener like me who missed it the first time to get on board while also giving some context to where Morpholith — who have two EPs out and whose debut full-length is eagerly anticipated — come from beyond their own influences. If that makes it a footnote, fine, but it’s one that rocks. Not changing the world or reinventing heavy rock, but a celebration of genre, by genre, for genre. If you can’t dig that, pick a different genre.
