Skandinavia

Today I’m going to order some cd’s and dvd’s. One of the cd’s is from a band called Skandinavia formed by lead singer who these days goes by the name Eliza Newman. She used to call herself Elíza Geirsdóttir back when she lived in Iceland and fronted the bands Kolrassa Krókríðandi and/or Bellatrix. Since her father is half American and she’s been living in London for some years, she’s taken his last name. Back when she was 16 and living in Keflavík, she and some girlfriends formed Kolrassa Krókríðandi which may or may not be named after a children’s play about a witch named Kolrassa who flies on a broomstick and takes a little girl on trips with her to strange and faraway places. The group soon won some new band of the year contest which got them a record contract. A couple of wild and fun cd’s later, they ended up in England, using the name Bellatrix for the band. Their distinctive sound disintegrated into pop nonsense and they disintegrated. Now Eliza’s back with a new band that sounds much closer to Kolrassa. Zeppelinesque epic rock, heavy on the Nordic mythology, with powerful wailing vocals and a soaring ethereal violin. (Eliza is a classically trained violinist and opera singer.) I’m not sure why Eliza chose the name Skandinavia for this new band since Iceland does not consider itself part of Scandinavia. At any rate, I’m trying to get their cd which should prove impossible because it’s an import and has been backordered since about a month after its release last fall.