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Only Scandinavians could make punk like this. Norway’s Kvelertak remind me of Refused at times; in the video for “Mjød” above, they remind me of Carpathian Forest crossed with Torche. The song is a little black metal, and a lot of almost bubblegummy powerpop.
Its video is a gas. What starts out as a rockin’ show ends in cannibalism and a bloodbath. Perky handclaps seal the deal. Yet the outdoor settings are stark and lonely, recalling Let the Right One In. Only Scandinavians could make tattoos, Motörhead, and other rock ‘n’ roll tropes this clean. (Hellacopters come to mind.)
Kvelertak have some big name associations. Baroness’ John Dyer Baizley did their album artwork. Converge’s Kurt Ballou recorded their album. Trap Them’s Ryan McKenney does guest vocals on the album. Justin Bartlett and Seldon Hunt did t-shirt designs for the band. Kvelertak are touring Europe this summer alongside Converge, Kylesa, and Gaza (what a bill!).
Dizzy yet? I am, with anticipation. Their self-titled debut comes out a month from today on black metal bastion Indie Recordings.
I’ve been listening to these guys for about a week now, after hearing about Ryan McKenney’s involvement. I’m a massive fan of Trap Them, as well as a lot Ballou has been involved with. Can’t wait for the album.
Well, they just tapped all the right people du jour, what can i say? let’s all just bow down to this. Personally, I thought it was horrible. The music had certain Rammstein-esque stiffness or regimentality to it mixed in with certain Papa Roach-esque catchiness. And then there were the vocals, which were very one dimensional…yikes..
Saw this on metalsucks.com and thought it was some generic metalcore shit that axl was into at the moment. I didn’t know about all the folks involved. Its not bad just dull and unoriginal. Might be one of those things I just don’t get(like Kylesa).
I guess I should just avoid any post that has ‘hardcore punk’ in it or something because all I get from watching this is ‘huh?’.
Interesting video, but Refused was doing this kind of thing over a decade ago and about ten times better. And they took risks; everything about this song is so bland that it’s hard to believe that these guys have the connections they do.
This is an interesting pastiche. Along with the video, this was interesting enough to keep my attention for 3:00. This is obviously produced well, but it comes off as a nod to everyone you mentioned (plus some Euroboy [Turbonegro] leads) but not much more. The polished version of The Hellacopters, which this channels, is only effective due to Nicke Anderson’s songwriting ability. I miss the old Hellacopters.
By the way, if you’ve never heard The Hellacopters’ first two records, now’s the time… The later shit was clean as hell, but the first two were gloriously raw and dirty.
@Miskatonic: I wish this sounded more like the polished version of the Hellacopters, which, to my ears at least, recalled Thin Lizzy, KISS, and (on songs like “Carry Me Home”) Cheap Trick. As much I like the more recent Hellacopters material though, I agree that the rawness of _Supershitty to the Max_ and _Payin’ the Dues_ make those two records the standouts in their catalogue. People who dig those two records should probably also check out their two _Cream of the Crap_ singles compilations, the material on which is largely culled from their early period.
Back on topic, “Mjod” didn’t do much for me.
It’s good to find a fellow Hellacopters fan. I’ve never met any of you before. The Hellacopters are far from an original band. They indeed incorporate all of the elements you mentioned. They wore their influences on their sleeves (or in Nicke’s case, his belt buckle). When they got polished, though, they had a (pristine) sound that was unmistakable (if not laudable) which I hear in this Mjod stuff.
I’m a big fan of the Cream of the Crap Collections. In fact, I’ve got most of those vinyl singles. Thinking of that collection makes me happy.
well as they say “different strokes for different folks”.
This is f*8king awesome. Reminds me of a lil’ bit of Wolfpack, Discharge, and the groovy parts of Khold. Cant wait for the full length. Why cant Canada churn out shit like this? We give the world Headly and The Stereos, while Scandanavia gives us this. I hang my Canadian head in shame.
@ Heavy Street
I take offense to your comment that Canada churns out shit. Right off the top of my head, I can think of Cursed, Buried Inside and Bison B.C.
As for Kvelertak, I’m cautiously optimistic.
@ Brett
My bad….Maybe I went too far with the Canadian bashing. I totally forgot about Black Betty, Bison B.C., Strapping Young Lad….oh! forgot about Loverboy too.
@ Heavy Street
Touché!
Really dont get the Refused reference where the fuck is refused in this?
Personally it sounded like they are aiming at a the sleazy turbonegro vibe and totally missing it.
Catchy but nothing special, reminded me a little of that group Nine from a few years back who were doing the whole death n’ roll thing mixed with some hardcore.
I don’t get the Refused reference either, in fact I barely hear any hardcore in this. And I kind of liked the song, I’m a sucker for catchy tunes. All in all, seems as one more band that does everything right but fails to impress.
Heavy street, maybe you should dig a little deeper cause both canada and scandinavia have many much better hardcore/punk bands than Kvelertak. I could name a few If you’d like.
I get the Refused vibe not in this song, but from some of the band’s other songs, particularly some picking patterns. The rock ‘n’ roll references others mentioned are more prevalent here.
@Bottomfeeder
Please name a few. I am always up for discovering newer bands. One can only listen to the Crash Test Dummies back catalogue for so long.
Ugh.
Mildly entertaining, but only on Mute.
//TB
They mainly remind me of their fellow countrymen Skambankt. Some googling reveals that Kvelertakt actually has opened for Skambankt (which is a rather big band in Norway.)
Heavy street, since you have a wide spectrum of punk bands up there and I don’t really know your likes or dislikes, I’ ll give you some diverse bands and check out whatever appeals to you. I apologise in advance for the name dropping…
So, I’ll start from melodic bands like Sedatives that blend punk rock with garage sounds plus heavy organ use. Marvelous Darlings is a mixture between power-pop and old school melodic punk-rock. It’a all about adolescence here. If you ever feel like burning fat while dancing, try to catch Brutal Nights live. Nutcases full of energy and fun. I guess the same goes for the well-known freaks of Fucked Up, they ‘re just a bit more adventurous, blending in even post-rock elements from time to time.
Urban Blight & Career Suicide are more straight forward hardcore bands, heavily influenced by 80s hardcore. I guess you are aware of nomeansno, they started in late 70s and are still active playing “pazz and junk”, haha, guess that says a lot. Classic canadian weirdos. Propagandhi is another punk band playing quite technical for a punk band)… at least on their latest efforts (a whole lot of different than nomeansno though). They are interesting enough when it comes to their ethics as well.
White Lung is an almost all-female band from Vancouver and lately I kinda fell in love with them. Ballsy female vocals (that doesn’t sound like a man singing – thank god for that), busy post-punk basslines and plenty of guitar hooks. They are wierd and catchy at the same time. NÜ SENSAE are female-fronted as well. The girl also plays the bass and the guy plays the drums. It’s a strange sounding band too, with even more pissed off vocals (listen to “Don’t Panic”).
Then again, If you are more into metal sounding hardcore, Canada has some brutal bands to offer. Left for Dead is a good example. Also, Union of Uranus, Iskra and Eating Glass.
Most of these bands are still active or have been active through 00s (also, many of them are currently on tour If you wanna check them out =P). There are many older or newer bands that I didn’t mention and I guess there are many other bands that I’m not aware of as I’m far from being a devoted hardcore/punk listener. Maybe not every single one of these bands is exceptional but, as you can see, Canada still has to offer, even in a more underground level ;p
Here are myspace sites for the bands mentioned above:
01. http://www.myspace.com/marvelousdarlings
02. http://www.myspace.com/sedativesedatives
03. http://www.myspace.com/brutalknights
04. http://www.myspace.com/epicsinminutes
05. http://www.myspace.com/urbanblight
06. http://www.careersuicide.net
07. http://www.myspace.com/myspaceiswrong
08. http://www.myspace.com/propagandhi
09. http://www.myspace.com/whitelungwhitelung
10. http://www.myspace.com/nusensae
11. http://www.myspace.com/unionofuranusfan
12. http://www.myspace.com/diskra
13. http://www.myspace.com/eatingglasshc
14. http://www.myspace.com/leftfordeadeatshit
[Yeah, I've got to learn how tags work, I know =\]
The song with the Trap Them dude is fucking ill, this band is more like punkier Baroness than anything else
I think this is just tits. Excuse my ignorance of foreign phonetics, but how would one pronounce “Kvelertak”?
Not feeling this. If it weren’t for the names attached, would we be talking about this band at all?
I’m waiting for the person to come in who says “but guys it’s just mindless fun!”
all the name drops in their press release seem to have worked because they got their write up.
Funny how people outside of Norway are into this… If you knew what the lyrics was like, you’d laugh and be embarrassed. Awful stuff written out of a need for something to scream. Just random phrases. No wonder they didn’t press the lyrics in the CD.
Mediocre stadium metal for dumb people.
But guys, it’s just mindless fun! It is. And I’m having it. Black metal Turbonegro. Not everything metal has to achieve some level of sacrosanctity or quasi-academic rigour, does it? Not to me it doesn’t. Metal can be fun, and Kvelertak are.