Icecross -

Icecross was an Icelandic post-psych powertrio that released a 1973 self-titled album on Icecross Records.

Members: Axel Einarsson (guitar, vocals), Ómar Óskarsson (bass, vocals), Ásgeir Óskarsson (drums, vocals)

Background

Icecross formed in Iceland in early 1972 when guitarist-singer Axel P.J. Einarsson and drummer-singer Ásgeir Óskarsson recruited guitarist Ómar Óskarsson (no relation) as bassist.

Ómar first appeared in 1968 as the fifteen-year-old guitarist for Sókrates, a blues group. He next played with Dýpt at the 1971 Saltstokk outdoor festival. Ómar also played with Pops, an Icelandic cover band that backed actor-comedian Flosi Ólafsson on the 1970 novelty single “Það Er Svo Geggjað Að Geta Hneggjað.”

The trio rehearsed in garages and built a repertory of original songs. Agent Ámundi Ámundason booked one early job for the band in the Westman Islands, where audience demands for familiar radio material followed the first set. Icecross left Iceland for Copenhagen after the members decided the home circuit could not support the group. The band lived in the Christiania area and played at the Revolution Club, where some weeks reached six engagements.

Icecross (the album)

Icecross released their singular album in April 1973 on Icecross.

The album fuses post-psychedelic heavy rock with prototypes of later heavy metal. Axel Einarsson runs electric and acoustic guitar through a Leslie cabinet while Omar Oskarsson juggles bass and bowed guitar.

“Solution” grinds through cavernous chant placement, dissonant guitar figures, and loose solo turns. “A Sad Man’s Story” lingers in acoustic-ballad register with a melancholy voice line. “Jesus Freaks” drills blunt refrain calls into stark, esoteric section turns.

“1999” coils around psych-tinged low-end figures and fuzz-scorched lead turns. “Wandering Around” rattles through a straight riff course before a drum solo breaks the band track. “Nightmare” quickens through a faster course and clipped ensemble accents. “The End” loosens into a wild course, with effects-smeared voices and bowed distortion at the edges.

A1. “Solution” (5:31) – Einarsson
A2. “A Sad Man’s Story” (2:47) – Ó. Óskarsson
A3. “Jesus Freaks” (5:36) – Ó. Óskarsson
A4. “Wandering Around” (3:21) – Einarsson

B1. “1999” (4:56) – Einarsson
B2. “Scared” (3:51) – Ó. Óskarsson
B3. “Nightmare” (4:50) – Einarsson
B4. “The End” (5:30) – Einarsson

Icecross self-produced the album at Rosenberg Studio in Copenhagen, where prior Óðmenn soundman Tommy Seebach engineered the sessions.

Icecross sports a two-tone skeletal sleeve by Haukar keyboardist Jón Erlings. The backside shows a photograph of the trio with one Gusti, credited with “bringing beer.” The photographer, Júlíus Agnarsson, played guitar and Moog in Andrew, a one-off combo with singer–guitarist Andri Örn Clausen. Both Óskarssons played simultaneously on Andrew’s self-release solo album, Woops.

Postlude

Icecross ended as the three musicians separated into two short paths. Ómar Óskarsson and Ásgeir Óskarsson first joined Ástarkveðja, a brief 1973 group with guitarist Sævar Árnason and bassist Jón Ólafsson. When singer Pétur Kristjánsson formed Pelican that summer, Ómar and Ásgeir entered the new band with guitarist Björgvin Gíslason, and some Ástarkveðja material moved into the Pelican repertory.

Ómar became the main Pelican writer during the band’s 1973–77 run. Pelican issued the 1974 single “Jenny Darling” b/w “My Glasses” and the 1974 album Uppteknir, then continued with a second LP and three singles. Also in 1974, Ómar released his first solo album, Middle Class Man.

Einarsson kept the Icecross name as a label identity after the band. He issued his lone solo album, the nine-song Acting Like a Fool, on Icecross Records in 1976. He then joined Deildarbungubræður, a comic dance-band project that began at a 1976 outdoor festival and reached LP release before the year ended. Later work placed him behind the Stöðin studio and label operation, where he recorded and issued Icelandic music outside the Icecross line

Discography: