Key

Two Sigur Ros albums released a year apart from each other, something I personally wasn't expecting from them. When Valtari was announced and the it had been getting to the last couple days before it's released, I was beyond excited as it became one of my favorites of 2012. Kveikur came as sort of a surprise as I was not expecting to see another Sigur Ros album out for at least another year or two, and even that would have been expecting too much. I figured a head to head comparison would be the right thing to do in this situation.

Starting with Kveikur as it's more than likely going to be the short end of the stick in this review. I really dug the approach that they went with this album, it seemed like a polar opposite of Valtari which was perfectly fine. It had a lot of the rich Sigur Ros sounds to be expected, but I didn't actually expect it to be as heavy as it was. It starts out really well, but I found myself getting very bored with it and seemed to just be waiting for it to finally end. One of the main reasons for that is it doesn't flow very well. Keep in mind, I'm used to the flow of Takk..., and Valtari, and probably some others that i'm forgetting to mention. Kveikur just didn't have that effect. I've given it at least 6 or so listens so it's not like I haven't given it a chance, I have, but I find myself going back and listening to Takk..., Valtari, and even Von, only because of the mellow Sigur Ros sound that I love. Not the most major disappointment of 2013, but I wouldn't rate Kveikur any higher than decent on a rating scale.

Now to discuss Valtari, which in my opinion made 2012 a very very good year, especially adding to the pile of other fantastic releases that were put out in the same year. Upon listening to it for the first time, I found myself saying in my head over and over, "Sigur Ros have definitely done it again", and things like "this album is one of their best by far", and it remains to be that way a year later. It's got the flow, the mellow sound, the beautiful vocal/instrument mixture that I expect to hear from them, and it's just an all around enjoyable album. It feels new every time I hear it, which is always a plus since it doesn't seem to ever get boring. Definitely worthy of a spot in my "top albums of 2012".

As far as both albums go, I feel like what they were attempting to do was to make one mellow album and one heavy album, which is absolutely fine. I am of the understanding that they wanted to do two albums completely different from each other, but it's just not even close to what I would expect from this band. I'll still listen to Kveikur every now and then, but it's not something I will hold much praise for.