Volcanova
Radical Waves
The Sign Records
Dick Dale had it easy: his beaches were sandy, his girlfriend’s wore bikini’s and his fish hadn’t been buried a year to make it edible. Then consider this band of surf rockers from Iceland, land of the midnight lava flow and the water better for skiing on than surfing on. But that doesn’t mean Volcanova can’t rock out and celebrate a sport amazingly unsuited to their homeland. These guys started rocking back in 2014, and now they’ve made it to my sun drenched keyboard here in Florida. It’s an exciting sound, heavy on fuzz and rhythm and wrapped in dark lyrics. Tunes come from the ink quill of lead singer Samúel Ãsgeirsson; he’s backed by Forsteinn Ãrnason on bass and vocals along with Dagur Atlason on drums and even more vocals.
Volcanova sounds more Quiet Riot than Dick Dale, but they do rock out with solid vocals, good song writing and I hear some infectious rhymes. I hear a bit of sustain on “I’m Off”, but it’s just a warmup to serious fuzzed out guitar later in the track . Now, lyrics like “We’re getting f*king wasted tonight” isn’t exactly Beach Boys material, but it IS rock and roll. is a line that captures the spirit of surf. Surfing on down the track list, we wipe out on the lugubrious “Stoneman” with an extended instrumental and an extra helping of reverb. This leads to a forest of sharp guitar chords and some very funky reverb. “Sushi Sam” is where things get really weird even by Icelandic surf standards. “He likes it raw and he likes it fresh, I ain’t talking about human flesh.” Sushi Sam hangs with Lucifer, and he can roll a “J” with sushi seaweed and keeping it lit. I know that makes no sense, but this is Icelandic surf music, and at this juncture, who’s to say what’s inappropriate? Give these guys a spin, their loud, snotty and subtlety funny as GrÃmsfjall .
https://www.instagram.com/volcanovaofficial/; https://www.facebook.com/volcanova/
