The rise of Gone Postal within the Icelandic metal scene has been akin to something of a death metal juggernaut. Just one year ago I thought that these upstarts were, judging by their name, a bunch of crust-oriented politics spewing nobodies. Man was I wrong.
I sit down at downtown speakeasy Bakkus with most of the band, save for guitarist Tristan (who might, or might not, still be an active member). Guitarist Nökkvi G Gylfason (who by the age of 21 has already fathered two offspring and spawned probably the hardest working death metal ensemble in Iceland, composed of Þorbjörn Steingrímsson, on vocals and rhytm guitar, drummer Stefán Ari Stefánsson and bass slinger Ævar Örn Sigurðsson) is the most vocal of the bunch and who, although trying to engage the other members in the interview, ends up answering nearly every single question by himself.
How come you twenty year olds got to where you are so damn fast?
“Hard work and hard work only. You don’t get anywhere by just sitting around in your rehearsal space smoking hash”.
You’ve got a new album coming up. Tell me a bit about your hectic release schedule.
Well, in 2008 we were the first Icelandic death metal act to release a full length in sixteen years. We were then the first to release a split in god knows how long, and we aim to be the first local DM band ever to release two albums. We’ve only begun laying down the vocal for the upcoming release (tentatively named ‘Spearheading the Umbrageous’), and on the back of that we’ll be aiming for international markets.
So touring is on the agenda?
Fuck that noise, we aim to play only festivals. Touring is such an outdated practice.
Young as you guys are, your music has more of an old school DM bent than most of the current crop of technically wanking high-speed violators. What exactly are your main influences?
I think Toby Cook from Metal Hammer described it best when we said we were like a mixture of the British group Akercocke and the Americans in Dying Fetus. Personally I listen a lot to Impetuous Ritual, Ackercocke and Blut aus Nord… I’ll leave the other guys to list their own influences.
Gone Postal is playing tonight, Friday 20:50 at Sódóma.
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