Sólstafir announce European tour

Dragon Fire: Sólstafir announce European tour with Amorphis

It’s been a few years since their last album, Endless Twilight of Codependent Love, but Iceland’s premier folk metallers, Sólstafir are taking it out on the road this Autumn.

Taking in 17 dates with Amorphis, the tour kicks off in Köln. It then winds through 9 different counties before concluding back in Germany, at Capitol, Hannover. See below for the full list of dates.

27 Oct 23 Köln (DE) Carlswerk Victoria

28 Oct 23 Geiselwind (DE) Music Hall

29 Oct 23 Utrecht (NL) Tivoli Vredenburg

31 Oct 23 Wörgl (AT) Komma VZ

01 Nov 23 Zagreb (HR) Boogaloo Club

02 Nov 23 Skopje (MK) Youth Cultural Center (YCC)

03 Nov 23 Thessaloniki (GR) Principal Club Theater

04 Nov 23 Athens (GR) Fuzz Live Music Club

05 Nov 23 Pirotska 5 (BG) Sofia

09 Nov 23 Kosice (SK) Collosseum

10 Nov 23 Bratislava (SK) Majestic Music Club

11 Nov 23 Linz (AT) Posthof

12 Nov 23 Zlin-Cepkov (CZ) Masters of Rock Cafe

14 Nov 23 Gdansk (PL) B90

15 Nov 23 Kraków (PL) Kamienna12

16 Nov 23 Dresden (DE) Stromwerk

18 Nov 23 Hannover (DE) Capitol

A quarter of a century after singer/guitarist Aðalbjörn “Addi” Tryggvason co-founded atmospheric Icelandic metal quartet Sólstafir, they continue to follow their cardinal rule – that there are no rules.

For them, writing an epic 10-minute song without a traditional verse/chorus trade-off feels natural. While they have done two albums in English, he mainly sings in their native tongue and his vocals are as much an instrument as a vessel for words. Their videos equally showcase the band and their Icelandic world that they commune with.

While early Sólstafir lyrics delved into Nordic mythology and critiques of organized religion, more recent songs explore their spiritual connection with nature, and lately, mental disorders ranging from depression to alcoholism and the taboo behind men in particular discussing those things for fear of being perceived weak.

“That’s the real darkness that you can’t see, but you can feel it and people around you can feel it,” explains Tryggvason. “Of course, there are serial killers and plagues and whatever through history. But in modern day life, that’s the true darkness around you. People kill themselves every day, and often people close to you who have been feeling so bad.”

One of the joys for him and his bandmates – bassist Svavar “Svabbi” Austmann, guitarist Sæþór Maríus “Pjúddi” Sæþórsson, and newer drummer Hallgrímur Jón “Grimsi” Hallgrímsson, who contributed some lyrics this time out – is that their perception of how their new music will turn out never corresponds with reality. It is that unknown factor that keeps things exciting.

“You can never foresee band magic,” declares Tryggvason. “The whole purpose of this is cooking up magic. And if you’re cooking up magic with four or five weirdos, you can never foresee what’s going to happen. You can’t buy that. You have to live it or grow it.”