Formed in 2003, MOMENTUM started life as a Black/Death metal project, with their first release, “The Requiem” EP appearing in 2006, followed two years later by another EP – “Your Side of the Triangle”.
By the time MOMENTUM’s debut full-lenth album “Fixation, at Rest” appeared in 2010, the band had left its roots behind and developed an identity all of its own, which, with the upcoming “The Freak Is Alive” album, frontman Holaf has taken even further, using his artwork, lyrics and concept to carry listeners on a surreal journey through the subconscious mind, leading them along paths that allow them to interpret for themselves what they are seeing and hearing.
With a lineup that includes Holaf on Vocals, Bass and Sitar, Ingvar Sæmundsson on Guitar and Vocals, Kristján Einar Guðmundsson on Drums, and Sigurður Árni Jónsson on Guitar and Vocals, MOMENTUM is a band that excels at merging atmospheric post-rock, reminiscent of ISIS and CULT OF LUNA, together with a level of bone-crushing heaviness broken up by soft singing and relaxed clean passages, intense vocals layered over discordant, staccato bursts, and mingling with eerie sound textures that explode into high-impact power chords, which bring to mind the work of NEUROSIS.
“The Freak is Alive”, which was Recorded at Studio ReFlex with Axel “Flex” Árnason, with a lineup that includes Holaf on Vocals, Bass and Sitar, Ingvar Sæmundsson on Guitar and Vocals, Kristján Einar Guðmundsson on Drums, and Sigurður Árni Jónsson on Guitar and Vocals, features nine tracks that blend atmospheric Post-Rock, reminiscent of Isis and Cult of Luna, with a Neurosis-esque level of bone-crushing heaviness interspersed with soft vocals and relaxed clean passages. The album is very much the concept of frontman Holaf, whose lyrics and artwork combine with the music to carry the listeners on a surreal journey through the subconscious mind, guiding them, but at the same time allowing them the freedom to interpret what they find at their journey’s end.