DYNFARI is an Icelandic Atmospheric/Post Black Metal band formed in 2010.  The band has been releasing albums rather steadily with "Myrkurs er borf," being fifth full length album.  However, this release is the first I've heard the band's music.  This album has three different guitarist on it and it really shows—each song is an emotion of layered guitar parts that lend a very natural, organic feel to the proceedings.  Sometimes this can lead to the songs sounding similar to one another but there isn't a bad moment across the eight tracks.

Compared to many others within the genre, DYNFARI is more guitar driven/focused.   Rather than overuse keys or have long, drawn out passages of ambient noises or clean textures, they use the power of the distortion to push the songs forward.  The riffs themselves set the mood and use other elements, such as the accordion, to accent or fill out the rest of the music's atmosphere.  Vocally, Johann doesn't use a whole lot of Blackened screams, growls, or even lightly textured cleans.  Rather, he relies on an almost speaking tone, with rougher sounding cleans-it is a refreshing approach and I think it actually helps their sound because it pulls the focus in around the music itself.

The first track, "Dauðans dimmu dagar," is an instrumental with the first minute or so using quiet, clean guitar.  The first two minute or so is a serene, gentle experience that does eventually give way to distortion.  The drum work is intricate and the bass melodic although I wish it stood out better in the mix as it is swallowed up by the big riffs—this tends to be a common problem with a lot of
Post/Atmospheric bands, the bass just blending into the riffs at times.   The last quarter of the song sees it taking a more melodic route and the bass perks up again.

The second track, "Langar nætur (í botnlausum spíralstiga)" isn't as laid back as the instrumental opener.  The riffs here, and the drums, are more Black Metal oriented but it is the bass that drives the song the most, its heavy presence allowing the guitars to throw in plenty of leads, melodies, and harmonies. "Ég tortímdi sjálfum mér," is a slow dirge, at first, with those throaty cleans shouting over the near hypnotic riffs.  As the song progresses, the drums pick up speed while the vocals get higher in pitch, soaring above the drums then coming back down.   The last half the song is a treasure trove of greatness—a dashing guitar solo leads the song into a near Doom like breakdown before it once again speed up again over some intense vocal wailing.

Despite how good every track is, "Peripheral Dreams," is definitely the album's highlight.  Not only is it the longest track, over ten minutes, but it also the most Blackened at least in terms of drums and much of the riffs.  Not one second of this track is wasted but the time from 2:40 to 8:00 is just damn magical-Post/Atmospheric Metal is well known for taking the listener on mental journeys (at least that is what happens to me) but this takes the cake—just pure passion from these guys.

I found DYNFARI's "Myrkurs er þörf" to be a powerful, emotive album with more than enough outstanding moments that kept me hitting the repeat or rewind button over and over again.