DJERV – Oslo – Internasjonalen

This Wednesday evening marked the first show in a newly launched metal assault in Oslo. Fire Walk With Me Metal Club aims to provide metal shows at smaller and more informal venues than the already established venues such as John Dee and Rockefeller and Betong.

The bar Internasjonalen is practically a metal virgin – in the sense that rather few metal shows have been held here. But no worries, on paper, this looks good: They have one of the most equipped bars in town, and the stage is upstairs with large windows overlooking ruins of the Governmental Quarter destroyed in the terror attacks and drunk people roaming like horny zombies in the mating season between the surrounding bars.

Tonights menu: Djerv (NO) + Gerilja (NO).

Gerilja (NO) is a fairly new acquaintance for my part, they’re Oslo-based and have fallen for the temptation of juggling as-many-assumingly-contrasting-labels as possible when describing their music: They play rocktrashfunkpsychedelic, and they have people talking well about them here and there on Internet. The visual esthetics of these guys slightly resembles the bands like The Darkness (UK) and their kind, but without the full blown ironical façade. Luckily Gerilja’s musical orientation is healthier: It’s like the bastard child Dave Mustaine and Marc Bolan, or something, the songs have screamy heavy metal riffs, but somehow twisted into really chill-out summer metal. Nice catchy, instant-hit song structures. If you’re headed to the sunny park with 12 beers to spend some quality time, this is probably one of the best choices of music. Its metal, but not scaring women and children in the surroundings. In a good way. The setlist included some nice & catchy stuff, which the already sworn fans cheered their ass off to:

–          The Source

–          Elevate

–          Ligthning Death

–          Pink Twillight

–          The Bomb

–          New Life in the Blast Zone

–          Animals.

Proof of concept is the fact that at least two drunk up&coming groupies threw themselves at the band. I would definitely recommend people top check these guys out. They have one album out, I think. (http://www.tigernet.no/shop/release.php?code=128850)

Maybe not perfect music when desecrating graves or burning human remains, but suitable for inducing that sweet feeling of combining metal and outdoor summertime.

As the evening proceeded, the metal DJ played a surprisingly consistent set of metal tunes – and that’s actually critical when hanging out on concerts.

The merch had all the usual crap you want to see: T-shirts, hoodies, vinyls.

Also worth mentioning is that there has been this open competition where one band is given the chance to play with Behemoth (PL) Vreid (NO) Kampfar (NO) 28.06.12 in Oslo @ Rockefeller. The winner was announced. Sindre Solem from metalthrash maniacs Necromantheon (NO) and representative of the Kolbotn Thrashers Union took the stage and said that the jury had landed on Cockroach Agenda (NO, from Bergen). Lucky guys. Hope they make the most of this chance.

Cockroach Agenda is still unsigned, and some of their stuff can be found here: (http://www.nrk.no/urort/Artist/CockroachAgenda/default.aspx)

 

Djerv (NO) consists of people from bands like Animals Alpha and Stonegard, and I guess are known to most Norwegian metal people. They’re signed to Indie Recordings (http://www.indierecordings.net/) and have put out the self-titled album last year. It has sold somewhere around 4K physical copies, and that’s not bad in the current digital mire of the music industry in Norway. This summer, Djerv is scheduled for a long-haul tour with the drug-resistant industrial-enthusiasts Ministry (US). Musically, they should fit. They have this steady beat metallized rock music that should fit the landscape of Ministry-minded people just fine. The album from 2011 was produced by Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah) and then mastered by Matt Hyde (Slayer, Monster Magnet), and it sounds really good. The material also works in a live setting. The band took stage, and it immediately becomes clear that vocalist Agnete Kjoelsrud carries with her a signature presence when it comes to stage antics. I last saw her joining Dimmu Borgir in Oslo Spectrum with a philharmonic orchestra and pyro-technics and everything. Here, the setting was totally different, of course, but it worked out good. The band is definitely skilled and delivers each songs precise and with conviction. The setlist:

 

–          Only I exist

–          Ladder to the Moon

–          Gruesome Twosome

–          Blind the heat

–          Abmuse

–          Immortal

–          Ashes to Ashes

–          Bowling Pin

–          Madman

–          Headstone

 

This is a solid band, and they deliver the stuff as promised on the album. The somewhat softened industrialized rock-approach should make people smile on the forthcoming tour with assumingly suitable audience.

After the show, the band made their way to the merch stand to hangout and sign stuff. I shortly talked to Erlend Gjerde (drums), and he said they are preparing for a new album this fall.

The debut album: http://www.tigernet.no/shop/release.php?code=132392

Overall, the Fire Walk With Me Metal Club concept is strongly promising. Internasjonalen is a quite good venue, despite the brutally designed bar upstairs and the massively oversized PA-speakers. The mood is good, and barkeepers are friendly. Oslo has a growing metal scene, so a venue and club with a slightly lower threshold than the established venues could be a perfect opportunity for upcoming bands – as well as seeing bigger bands play on a small venue. A number of concerts are scheduled, and I’m keen to see where this goes – and if the metal crowd in this city backs up this initiative.