Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk, the new full-length from Faroe Islands-based death/doom collective HAMFERÐ, is out now on Metal Blade Records!

When this magisterial sextet’s third album Támsins likam emerged in 2018, the highly acclaimed and powerfully emotive opus thrust the mourning-suited band onto the world stage. Louder Sound championed, “a stunning triumph,” Heavy Music HQ concurred lauding a, “tour de force for the band,” while Bandcamp Daily observed accurately, “HAMFERÐ presents metal’s obligatory preoccupation with dying in a light we rarely see it, finding melodrama, romance, and – yes – beauty in mortality.”

Six years on, the accumulation of plentiful live experience and interpersonal chemistry has had a profound impact on HAMFERБs extraordinary fourth LP, Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk, feeding into the artisanal sonic vision of guitarist and producer, Theodor Kapnas. Avoiding all the quick-fix trickery of modern recording technology, the band recorded the songs together live in the studio, without a click-track. The result is a resoundingly human album that heaves, swoops, and shifts in elemental style – from passages of glacial post-metallic beauty through sorrowful folky goth cadences, via icy blackened blastbeats to shuddering vistas of extreme doom mastery – with a crackling tight-but-loose interplay recalling the giants of yesteryear.

The narrative concept behind Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk is inspired by the 1915 whaling disaster off the Faroe Island village of Sandvik (home of HAMFERРkeyboardist Esmar Joensen), when fourteen men died driving whales ashore in the stormy bay. The village population witnessed the tragedy from the seaside. The sad tale has enabled HAMFERРto powerfully bring to life the meaning behind their Faroese name, zeroing in on the traumatic emotional force behind this supernatural phenomenon.

In celebration of today’s release, the band has unveiled a video for “Marrusorg.” “‘Marrusorg’ describes a parent’s attempt to create an imaginary world to avoid facing the death of their child. The verses are a dreamlike nursery rhyme where the child is the hero in an underwater kingdom. The choruses represent the unbearable grief that floods over the parent when this fantasy melts away.”

Watch HAMFERБs previously released videos for “Ábær” HERE and “Hvølja” HERE.

Find orders at: metalblade.com/hamferd

In related HAMFERРnews, the band will join Sólstafir and Oranssi Pazuzu for a portion of the Nordic Descent Tour this November.

Comments the band, “We are very excited to hit the road with our friends in Sólstafir and the amazing Oranssi Pazuzu. It’s a musically diverse package which we are honored to be a part of, and we can’t wait to perform our new music on stages around Europe. We also can’t wait to finally get to play in the UK, it has been long overdue!“

HAMFERÐ w/ Sólstafir, Oranssi Pazuzu:
11/13/2024 Oosterpoort – Groningen, NL
11/14/2024 Doornroosje – Nijmegen, NL
11/15/2024 Muziekgieterij – Maastricht, NL
11/16/2024 Botanique – Brussels, BE
11/17/2024 Forum – Bielefeld, DE
11/19/2024 Splendid – Lille, FR
11/20/2024 Concorde 2 – Brighton, UK
11/21/2024 Club Academy – Manchester, UK
11/22/2024 Opium – Dublin, IR
11/23/2024 Queen Margaret Union – Glasgow, UK
11/24/2024 Electric Brixton – London, UK

HAMFERÐ:
Jón Aldará – vocals
Theodor Kapnas – guitars
Eyðun í Geil Hvannastein – guitars
Esmar Joensen – keyboards
Remi Kofoed Johannesen – drums
Jenus í Trøðini – bass

https://www.facebook.com/Hamferd
https://www.instagram.com/hamferdofficial
https://hamferd.bandcamp.com

“Hvølja,” the chest-caving new single from Faroe Islands-based death/doom practitioners HAMFERРis now streaming alongside an accompanying video. The punishing new hymn appears on the band’s Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk full-length, set for release on March 22nd through Metal Blade Records.

When this magisterial sextet’s third album Támsins likam emerged in 2018 – ten years after they first entered a rehearsal space – the highly acclaimed and powerfully emotive opus thrust the mourning-suited band onto the world stage. Louder Sound crowned the record, “a stunning triumph,” Heavy Music HQ concurred lauding a, “tour de force for the band,” while Nine Circles observed, “HAMFERÐ taps into a rich cultural vein to draw influence for their lyrical and musical themes, yet the filtering of this through the lens of death/doom makes for a unique approach to folk-themed metal, and one that is hugely successful in its application.”

Six years on, the accumulation of plentiful live experience and interpersonal chemistry has had a profound impact on HAMFERБs extraordinary fourth LP, Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk, feeding into the artisanal sonic vision of guitarist and producer, Theodor Kapnas.

Concertedly eschewing all the quick-fix trickery of modern recording technology, the band recorded the songs together live in the studio, without a click-track. The result is a resoundingly human album that heaves, swoops, and shifts in elemental style – from passages of glacial post-metallic beauty through sorrowful folky goth cadences, via icy blackened blastbeats to shuddering vistas of extreme doom mastery – with a crackling tight-but-loose interplay recalling the giants of yesteryear.

In addition to the old-school recording set-up, guitarist and producer Theodor Kapnas’ vision for the sound is best exemplified by penultimate song and latest single, “Hvølja” (Whaleskin), a sluggish sludge crawl with a beautifully disgusting tone. “I had a big fascination with making stuff rougher, dirtier and uglier,” affirms Kapnas. “Musically it’s all about tension; suspended chords and tense harmonies, always having that feeling of uncertainty. That song is maybe my favorite track on the record, just because it’s so uncompromising. Everything goes to 11.

“‘Hvølja’ is also the darkest and ugliest song we have written to date,” he continues. “It is a sonic and lyrical representation of the world being violently ripped apart by monstrous currents and consumed by a black sky above.”

Watch HAMFERБs previously released video for “Ábær” at THIS LOCATION.

The narrative concept behind Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk is inspired by the 1915 whaling disaster off the Faroe Island village of Sandvik (home of HAMFERРkeyboardist Esmar Joensen), when fourteen men died driving whales ashore in the stormy bay. The village population witnessed the tragedy from the seaside.

The sad tale has enabled HAMFERРto powerfully bring to life the meaning behind their Faroese name, zeroing in on the traumatic emotional force behind this supernatural phenomenon. “When you see someone in hamferð, you see their apparition,” Kapnas explains. “Mostly it’s wives with husbands at sea, who’ve seen them dripping wet in the doorframe in the middle of the night. Typically, in folklore it’s a warning that something bad will happen, and there are several documented episodes of this happening in Sandvik in 1915. So it’s kind of full circle for us.“

Find pre-orders at: metalblade.com/hamferd

HAMFERÐ:
Jón Aldará – vocals
Theodor Kapnas – guitars
Eyðun í Geil Hvannastein – guitars
Esmar Joensen – keyboards
Remi Kofoed Johannesen – drums
Jenus í Trøðini – bass

https://www.facebook.com/Hamferd
https://www.instagram.com/hamferdofficial
https://hamferd.bandcamp.com

Faroe Islands-based death/doom outfit HAMFERРwill release their Men Guðs hond er sterk full-length March 22nd on Metal Blade Records.

When this magisterial sextet’s third album Támsins likam emerged in 2018 – ten years after they first entered a rehearsal space – the highly acclaimed and powerfully emotive opus thrust the mourning-suited band onto the world stage. Five years on, the accumulation of plentiful live experience and interpersonal chemistry has had a profound impact on HAMFERБs extraordinary fourth LP, Men Guðs hond er sterk, feeding into the artisanal sonic vision of guitarist and producer, Theodor Kapnas.

Concertedly eschewing all the quick-fix trickery of modern recording technology, the band recorded the songs playing all together live in the studio, without a click-track. The result is a resoundingly human album that heaves, swoops, and shifts in elemental style – from passages of glacial post-metallic beauty through sorrowful folky goth cadences, via icy blackened blastbeats to shuddering vistas of extreme doom mastery – with a crackling tight-but-loose interplay recalling the giants of yesteryear.

The narrative concept behind Men Guðs hond er sterk is inspired by a harrowing local event: the 1915 whaling disaster off the Faroe Island village of Sandvik (home of HAMFERРkeyboardist Esmar Joensen), when fourteen men died driving whales ashore in the stormy bay. The village population witnessed the tragedy from the seaside.

Fittingly, the sad tale has enabled HAMFERРto powerfully bring to life the meaning behind their Faroese name, zeroing in on the traumatic emotional force behind this supernatural phenomenon. “When you see someone in hamferð, you see their apparition,” Kapnas explains. “Mostly it’s wives with husbands at sea, who’ve seen them dripping wet in the doorframe in the middle of the night. Typically, in folklore it’s a warning that something bad will happen, and there are several documented episodes of this happening in Sandvik in 1915. So it’s kind of full circle for us.”

As a precursor to the release of Men Guðs hond er sterk, the band today delivers a video for first single and opening track, “Ábær.” Offers Kapnas, “‘Ábær’ is about sailing through a hurricane, through ocean valleys, in a rowing boat and surviving it. The waves crashing, the wind and rain beating and biting you, death greeting you everywhere you look. Perseverance, melancholy, dread, willpower, endurance and doubt interweave with every note and word.”

Find pre-orders at: metalblade.com/hamferd

Men Guðs hond er sterk Track Listing:
01. Ábær
02. Rikin
03. Marrusorg
04. Glæman
05. Í hamferð
06. Fendreygar
07. Hvølja
08. Men Guðs hond er sterk

HAMFERÐ:
Jón Aldará – vocals
Theodor Kapnas – guitars
Eyðun í Geil Hvannastein – guitars
Esmar Joensen – keyboards
Remi Kofoed Johannesen – drums
Jenus í Trøðini – bass

https://www.facebook.com/Hamferd
https://www.instagram.com/hamferdofficial
https://hamferd.bandcamp.com

Faroese melodic death/doom sextet HAMFERРhave launched a video for “Frosthvarv (Live in the Eysturoy Tunnel)”, which can be viewed at: youtu.be/GEEp3XlKVbc. The track is taken from their 2018 album, Támsins likam.

Hamferð comments: “Through the band’s history, we’ve always been fascinated by performing in untraditional venues. So when we got the opportunity of actually playing beneath the bottom of the ocean, it was obviously something which we had to do. The tunnel and the sculptures by Tróndur Patursson really add to the atmosphere of the music, and we hope that the atmosphere translates through the video so people are able to enjoy it wherever they are.”

Be sure to catch Hamferð during Metal Injection‘s “Slay At Home” livestream this Friday, February 19th – featuring other performances by members of Paradise Lost, Spirit Adrift, Pallbearer, and more. Kicking off at 12PM PST//3PM EST//9PM CET, fans can tune in at: youtu.be/foFo5-7-eDg

Hamferð‘s latest release – 2019’s Ódn – is an EP that features the previously unreleased title track on side A and a bare-bones rendition of “Deyðir varðar” (from 2013’s Evst) on Side B, both performed live on unique occasions. The band explains: “‘Ódn’ is the very first Hamferð-song, first performed in the autumn of 2008 and never before published. It is built from three very different sections, which still represent our music today: one part foreboding, one part violent and one part elegiac. The parts follow the narrative of a sailor over three chapters; first braving an increasingly stormy ocean, then reflecting on a long life sailing the very seas that now threaten his life, and finally surrendering to the waves. The title translates to ‘violent storm’ or ‘hurricane’.”

Stream and purchase Ódn now at: metalblade.com/hamferd