RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://oleteigen.bandcamp.com/album/skjebnev-ven Leave it to Gymnocal Industries (Norway) to release hauntingly evocative records such as this one, which sees the skilled composer Ole Teigen (Superlynx, ex-Den Saakaldte, ex-Dødheimsgard) weaving gentle and reflective piano motifs together to great effect. As with his introspective and somber Aske and Jord LP from 2021, Skjebnevæven is…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/BloodRedThroneOfficial https://bloodredthrone.bandcamp.com/music I’m going to go on the record and say something this review will prove beyond reasonable doubt: if you don’t like Blood Red Throne you don’t like death metal. Blood Red Throne (BRT) is a band whose music I know intimately thanks to their main founder and one…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://invainband.bandcamp.com/ While Nocturnus’ The Key¹⁹⁹⁰ is widely regarded as the first progressive death metal album, it is arguably Death with its third album Spiritual Healing¹⁹⁹⁰ who had paved the way for Edge Of Sanity (whose debut record, Nothing But Death Remains¹⁹⁹¹ was still standard death metal fare) who then helped…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.paradogmata.com/ It’s becoming harder and harder to come up with a clever name as all the Megadeths, Medevils and Cryptopsies and Darkanes have already been taken. Paradogmata, presumably adressing fake dogmata, contradictory dogmata (as we will learn) or dogmata as it were, is an Norwegian progressive melodic heavy death metal…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://edgedcircleproductions.bandcamp.com/album/seven-are-they Yes, this is exactly the kind of thing we all need and what the of the mood of this week calls for – a new output containing exclusive material by what is unarguably one of the very best and most sinister-sounding bands out there, namely Deathcult. With its evocative artwork…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/nattmannofficial The Norwegian black metal duo Nattmann e-mailed us a digital copy of their latest release, namely the 4-track EP sporting the evocative moniker Et Jordsmonn Av Døde, and let me start out by saying that I am grateful to these skilled dudes for doing so. This is a convincing and…
VENUE: ForumDATE: 16.11.2023 ORGANIZER: Bergen LivePHOTOGRAPHER: C. NepperPhotos copyrights belong to the photographer. No unauthorized usage allowed. Please contact photographer if you wish to reuse images in any context. American rockers Rival Sons were back at the Forum in Bergen on a dark and cold Thursday night – and what a night it was!…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://fatherrobin.bandcamp.com/album/the-songs-tales-of-airoea-book-1 Sporting a great moniker and an even greater line-up featuring some of Norway’s most awe-inspiring prog rock musicians from acts such as Wobbler, Tusmørke, and Jordsjø, it goes without saying that this album is something that many of have been looking forward to for some time – me included. High…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://bushmansrevenge.bandcamp.com/album/all-the-better-for-seeing-you What a magnificent piece of work this cleverly written opus by jazz rockers Bushman’s Revenge is. Six beguiling compositions that add something fresh and vital to the genre are what lie in store for you, and there is atmosphere and dynamics in spades throughout not to mention that it is…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023BAND URL: https://pixieninja.bandcamp.com/album/hypnagogia Fresh, clever, and inventive are words that immediately spring to mind when trying to sum up this highly engaging offering by instrumental prog rockers Pixie Ninja, and there can be no doubt that these Scandinavians are flying the flag of musical innovation high. Darkly atmospheric yet playful and eclectic, the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: http://enslaved.no/ Whereas E²⁰¹⁷ was a sore disappointment after the phenomenal In Times²⁰¹⁵, the former seemingly ending the string of top shelf material from Axioma Ethica Odini²⁰¹⁰ and Riitiir²⁰¹², Utgard²⁰²⁰ was a notable, if a partial return to form. I remarked similarly in my review of the album (5/6) where I…
VENUE: BastionenDATE: 17.06.2023 ORGANIZER: Bergen LivePHOTOGRAPHER: J. Nepper.Photos copyrights belong to the photographer. No unauthorized usage allowed. Please contact photographer if you wish to reuse images in any context. The awesome purveyors of atomic hard rock from California known as Dirty Honey paid the lovely city of Bergen a visit on a hot and…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://solstein.bandcamp.com/album/solstein Boasting a stellar lineup consisting of Jacob Holm-Lupo (Donner, White Willow, The Opium Cartel), Keith Carlock (Toto, Steely Dan, Sting), Stian Larsen, Brynjar Dambo (White Willow), and Bill Bressler, it would be fair to say that this exciting new endeavor from the US and Norway does not exactly lack musical…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://sevenimpale.bandcamp.com/album/summit Yes, it has finally arrived! Seven years was a long time to wait for a new musical treat by inventive Norwegian rockers Seven Impale, but how exhilarating it is when it turns out that it was all worth it and that Summit stands tall and proud as a well-written and…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.wigwamofficial.com/ I was rather enamored with Wig Wam’s Never Say Die opus from 2021 as it was an utterly confident, enjoyable, and energetic slab of memorable hard rock, and it is pretty frigging awesome to see and hear that their latest output, Out of the Dark, offers more of the same.…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://66crusher.bandcamp.com/ Progressive thrashers 66Crusher have returned with their fourth album, and this is one juicy and explosive musical cocktail that appeals to me greatly. “Why is that?” I hear you ask. Well, these talented Norwegians have a firm grasp of how to weave outstanding melodies and muscular, meaty riffs together to…
A brand-new digital single sporting the evocative title Sea Journal has just been released and bears all the defining traits and characteristics of Picture Ann, i.e. a desolate atmosphere, melodies that speak of yearning, and a subtle hint of something slightly eerie. Directly inspired by Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851) and Edgar Allan Poe’s The…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://tusm-rke.bandcamp.com/album/intetnett We would be remiss if we did not mention this charming and quirky children’s album by the Norwegian purveyors of psychedelic prog rock known as Tusmørke. Entitled Intetnett and consisting of 21 tunes and a rather brilliant concept and storyline, this is a hugely entertaining and inventive opus that is…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://mesaverde.bandcamp.com/album/ky The musically shape-shifting Norwegian quartet known as MesaVerde released this adventurous and playful opus of theirs via Apollon Records quite recently, and the result is a remarkable listening experience that weaves prog, indie rock, and strong hints of art rock and psychedelia together to great effect. The thing about KY…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/honeyveinmusic/ The talented Bastian Veland (Dobbeltgjenger, Ossicles) released this solo offering of his via the ever-reliable Apollon Records not that long ago, and what we have here is essentially a wildly eclectic and diverse collection of catchy tunes that harbor elements from experimental rock, quirky pop, electronic music, and something akin…
