After releasing one of 2018’s finest hunks of retro-rock (the downright dazzling Ain’t No Shame), Norwegian flower-power trio Friendship are kicking off the new year with the re-release of their 2012 debut single. Both “Alpha Male” and its corresponding b-side “Give It Time” show that the band’s knack for funky and fluid, sexy and soulful sunshine rock was in place from the start, whip-tight power-pop filtered through a kaleidoscopic lens of swaggering psychedelia.
Friendship
Ain’t No Shame
Kozmik Artifactz
Release Date: May 25, 2018
Ain’t No Shame, the eagerly anticipated second full-length from Norwegian trio Friendship, should be classified as a mood-enhancing substance. The first time I heard it, it pulled me out of the kind of piss-poor headspace that can only come from five hours cooped up in a car with two cranky children and an more than exasperated spouse. I was actually a little nervous to hit play that first time, for fear that my mental and physical exhaustion might negatively color my feeling toward the material. But by the end of the Monkees-and-Cream-playing-Cheap Trick opener “Are You Ready,” I was grinning ear to ear. Somewhere in the middle of the jazzy delight “Harmony Turns to Sound,” my dopey grin turned to slack-jawed awe. And within three seconds of the stomping funk-rock romp “Fire,” I actually laughed out loud from the combination of amazement and joy. I went to bed that night with a smile on my face and a sense of contentment in my heart, and I have Fredrik Skalstad (drums & lead vocals), Martin Morland (bass), and Sander Eriksen Nordahl (guitar) (along with their litany of guest musicians) to thank for that. It brought me up when I was down, and there’s not too many higher accolades than that.
Kosmik Boogie Tribe
We’re Not Here to Fu*k Spiders
Rural Rebel Rock/Tiger Records
Release Date: April 6, 2018
The third release from Norwegian quintet Kosmik Boogie Tribe, We’re Not Here to Fuck Spiders, is an incendiary slab of no-bullshit, gutbucket rock n’ roll. True to its title, it’s not here to fuck around, it’s here to get the job done, and that job just so happens to be whooping your ass. Eight songs in a shade over a half-hour, and it barely slows down to take a breath from sonically punching you repeatedly in the face and gut. No time is wasted on current events or social commentary, or hackneyed relationship analyses or sad-sack treatises on man’s inhumanity to man; instead, the primary themes here seem to be getting fucked up and fucking shit up. Raw-boned and roughly hewn, We’re Not Here to Fuck Spiders is the sound of a band for whom making a record and making a racket are the same damn thing.
Norway black metal pioneers, Mayhem announce US dates for their “Demon Anthology” tour. Starting at the end of March, they will begin their run in the Northeast with special guests: Atlanta black metal/rock act, Cloak; and New Jersey death/black metal band, Incantation.
Mayhem promises a new live set covering some of the greatest songs from all of their past albums. Their most recent full-length studio album is ‘Esoteric Warfare’ which has received numerous accolades and critical acclaim. Continue reading
The Norwegian Black Metal duo SATYRICON have announced that they will be live streaming the album release show for “Deep Calleth Upon Deep” tomorrow, 9/22/2017 from their hometown of Oslo Norway at 9 p.m. CEST. The show itself we be held for an extremely lucky crowd of 300 people on top of the KLP building in the middle of Oslo. Front man Satyr states “I always thought the Beatles gig on top of the Apple building in London, 1969, was such an intriguing thing and it really feels like a privilege to be able to do something like this ourselves. In our hometown too! Since this is to celebrate the release of “Deep calleth upon Deep”, we don’t want to exclude those who can’t be there with us that night, so I’m glad it’s being streamed worldwide. We’ll play the whole record and we’ll do it in style!” So pull up a seat, grab a drink and swing by SATYRICONS facebook page to watch it all unfold. Along with this special live stream, don’t forget that their album “Deep Calleth Upon Deep” drops tomorrow (9/22/2017) Continue reading
Four piece Norwegian death metal band EXECRATION are 13 years already into the business and have released three nerve wrecking albums till date. Their last album was pretty well received and they did a lot of shows both in homeland Norway and have also previously toured with death metal giants CANNIBAL CORPSE. They are now back with their fourth album which is slated to be released on July 14th, out via Metal Blade Records. The upcoming album is titled as, ‘Return To The Void‘. Today the band premieres a new song taken off ‘Return To The Void‘, named as “Hammers Of Vulcan“.
After initially hearing Exploding Head Syndrome I found myself wondering how in the hell I haven’t heard this band yet. They formed back in 2010 when the childhood friends got the idea to start a punk band. They thought the idea of starting a punk band in their thirties was kind of ridiculous, but nevertheless Exploding Head Syndrome was formed. I’m very happy the band did form as well. The name for the band came about when one of the members was browsing the web and found a weird sounding disease called Exploding Head Syndrome. The band found the name to fitting for the kind of music they wanted to play. The band released their self titled debut in 2011 on Ampmanden Records. The band went on to release two albums in 2013 which includes ‘Disciples of Reason’ which received rave reviews. Exploding Head Syndrome was hailed as “one of the most exciting new Norwegian bands” by Norway’s leading radio show for hard-rock music. In the summer of 2015 tragedy hit EHS when bassist Bjørnar died. The band after some time to mourn their comrade auditioned bassists and soldiered on. The band signed a record deal with Wormhole Death Records and went on to record their next album, ‘World Crashes Down’, at Mathlab Recording Studio in Montale, Italy over three weeks in June and July 2016. In August the record was finished, and was released worldwide on November 4. The album remains true to the bands punk roots but incorporates a lot of hardcore influence as well as some heavy groove rock vibes. Continue reading
