The name “Iotunn” refers to the giants that the Nordic gods fight. The band itself is founded on a proto-mentality - a primordial philosophy that looks to ancient roots when allowing the music to let the mind wander along the paths of science fiction, classic heavy metal, progressive motifs and melodic extreme metal.
 
The music is sourced from brutality, the underground, death and violence, but at the same time it transports the listener to a fantastical realm. The ominous dissonance makes us stop in the middle of our everyday customs and question all that we take as given. It makes us reflect on the complexity and frailty of the human race, and whether we should continue our ephemeral pursuits in this temporal world or submit ourselves fully to eternity.
 
The narrative in “Access All Words” is inspired by Nordic thoughts and philosophy, but centres around the humans’ position in the universe, where we are diminishing our ability to live on and off the earth we have been given. The songs lead the listener on a cosmic expedition where the crew is abandoning our depleted planet in search of a new destination for humanity to inhabit. This emotional dilemma with the fear and uncertainty of entering a possible nothing next to the hopes of discovering utopia set the framework of the journey, with the crew ultimately having to decide whether all of humanity is worth risking their lives for - or whether it will be enough to resume the species based on our individual existences.
 
Iotunn performs in Grundin on Thursday night at 23:15.

Photo by Julia Nikiforova