Iceland, a nation of 320,000 people, sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic’s mid-oceanic ridge. Last week, southern Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH’-plah-yer-kuh-duhl) volcano began erupting for the second time in a month, sending ash several miles into the air, and winds have pushed the plume south and east across Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and into the heart of Europe.

Yes, bits of Iceland are now all over Europe, and probably all over the world. Now you don’t have to go there to bring a little bit of Iceland home to you. It’s probably in your yard or sitting on your windowsill right now!

In turn, all that ash in the air has caused the grounding of planes on a huge scale, stranding tens of thousands of passengers in airports throughout Europe and causing the cancellation of numerous in-bound international flights, not to mention the cancellation by metal bands of scheduled European gigs.

In Iceland itself, torrents of water have carried away chunks of ice the size of small houses. More floods from melting waters are expected as long as the volcano keeps erupting – and in 1821, the same volcano managed to erupt for more than a year.

(more after the jump, including a few more photos and that music we promised . . .)

Here are a few more photos of the eruption and the ash that it’s vomiting into the atmosphere and depositing on roads. Yep, this is definitely metal.

Fucking awesome, huh?

We need some musical accompaniment. And since Iceland is on our minds today, we hunted for some extreme metal from Iceland — and we found some.

The band is called Changer. They’ve been around, with various line-up changes, since 1999. Their latest output is an EP called Breed the Lies, which was mixed and mastered by Denmark’s Tue Madsen and released in 2006, and they’ve toured Iceland in the past with bands such as Cannibal Corpse and Rotting Christ.

A handful of songs are available for streaming via the widget below (for as long as it lasts). Click “Play Now” and you’ll see the list. The song we recommend is “Breed the Lies.” It’s kinda cool.