Zhrine has been slinging noxious, elevated Icelandic extreme metal since before anyone was really looking to the wintery island nation for anything of the sort, starting up just a year after confirmed OGs Svartidauði lit the flame in 2006. Originally known as Gone Postal (a name that was wisely swapped for Shrine in 2014, then further supplanted by Zhrine come 2015), the Reykjavík-area band features members of other notables like Ophidian I, Naðra, and the aforementioned Svartidauði. They lean much further towards the death metal end of the spectrum, though, as you'll see on the band's latest album (and debut release under the Zhrine banner).Season of Mist will release Unortheta on April 8, marking the first in what's sure to be many cases of a major international label falling under the Icelandic spell. The album is an imposing, dissonant mass of unorthodox death, heavily atmospheric and weirdly progressive. It balances moments of soulless ferocity with dark, brooding melody (see "World"), stepping beyond the boring typicalities of black/death to explore its outer edges.The band comments, "It is with great pride in our hearts that we finally unveil the grand statement of chords and chaos that is Unortheta. This churning collection of dark, etheral, odes to the desperate void has long been yearning to be set free on the unsuspecting public like a tempest of raging atonality in a glass of aural unreason, and today is the day that the deed shall be done."So it is written, so it shall be done. Listen to Unortheta below, and preorder it on various formats from Season of Mist.
Kim Kelly is stoked to see Zhrine at Eistnaflug this summer; follow her on Twitter.