Gydja returns to Winter-Light with a new full-length album, Níu kom ek heima fyr Niflhel neðan.
Níu kom ek heima fyr Niflhel neðan brings to a close the trilogy that began with Ar var Alda and its depiction of cosmic creation within the primordial void of Ginnungagap, and was continued with the exploration of the cosmic eleven-fold river Élivágar in Þjóðáar Fnæstu Eitri.
In this final entry, Gydja turns to the nine worlds touched by Élivágar’s venomous streams, using as its title a line from the poem Vafþrúðnismál, in which the giant Vafþrúðnir describes how he had travelled into the underworld, coming to nine homes or worlds beneath the realm of Niflhel. The image of nine underworld realms suggest a chthonic mirror of the various worlds of Norse cosmology, a nightside simulacrum similar to the way in which the qlippoth darkly mirrors the sephiroth in Kabbalistic mysticism.
Recorded & Produced by Abby Helasdottir at Ultrasound, 2024-2025
Mastered by Robin Storey
Graphic Design by Abby Helasdottir