Kvelertak - Kvelertak

Music has this innate way of connecting people, regardless of any boundaries through gender, race, age, or nationality and I'm sure that even now, despite our giant leaps in communicative technology, ie the internet, most bands become more popular not through advertising campaigns but through a "hey, I've heard this new band, they're great, check them out" shared word of mouth sentimentality that music fans have. When I first heard Kvelertak I knew that my friend would like them and almost immediately posted one of their songs on his wall, he's the reason why I'm writing this, because he almost begrudgingly said the usual guilty sentence...how have I not heard this band before, and then a request: You have to do a review of it.

Kvelertak's debut album is almost two years old now, which was my excuse to him for not writing a review of it but that is absurd given that it's won two Norwegian awards (equivalent to the American Grammy Awards) for best newcomer and best rock band as well as favourable reviews in countless rock magazines. So sure, I may have missed the boat in suggesting that I am the first to hear of this cool new band but sometimes an album is so good that it doesn't matter whether you've heard it before release, or years after, it deserves a review and Kvelertak have created one of those albums.

The Norwegian six piece, one of the few bands to not fall pray to needing to have vocals in the English language to be successful, in their debut album have written what I can only describe as a purist album (in that it is purely amazing in everything it does). It's part hardcore, part metal, part death metal, even part rock 'n' roll, and part everything else, and sure it's a serious album but it never fails to hold a party atmosphere, and I can just sense when I'm listening to the album, everybody throwing their plastic cups of lager around, chanting alongside the band. When speaking about the band, my friend probably summed it up best. Firstly he said he had goosebumps. This is one of those qualities that music has, it doesn't happen THAT often, but when it is that good, it truly makes you that excited that your body just has to react to it. Secondly, he said that this debut album is a collection of fantastic genre's, all lumped together and not only done brilliantly, but in the best way they could possibly be used. And he's completely right, hell, I'm actually beginning to think that maybe he should be the writer, not me.

So whether it is through the brilliant animated video of Blodtørst, or the sweaty riotous video of Mjød, let me be not the first, and definitely not the last person to say, that you have to check out Kvelertak because I'm a big fan of bread, and they are a whole lot better than it being sliced.

5 / 5

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